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In the hot seat Viljoen risking perfect record to coach South Africa
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) -- New South Africa rugby coach Harry Viljoen has never been sacked, but his appointment on Friday has put that record in considerable jeopardy. The 41-year-old millionaire businessman became the eighth man in nine years named South Africa's rugby coach. He succeeded Nick Mallett. Mallett resigned 10 days ago during the first day of hearings into a charge of misconduct following his criticism of the high price of test match tickets. Viljoen boasts the unique record in South Africa of having coached three different provincial sides to the final of South Africa's premier domestic competition, the Currie Cup – each time in his first season in charge. He was a precocious playing talent. He played for South African Schools as a powerful scrumhalf and made his Transvaal debut a month after his 19th birthday. He also played for Northern Transvaal before an injury cut short his playing career, prompting him to take over coaching at Transvaal at the unusually young age of 31. He immediately steered Transvaal to the Currie Cup final and returned with them a year later. Both matches were lost. Hastily appointed In 1993, he joined Natal as assistant coach to Ian McIntosh and when the latter was hastily appointed Springbok coach, Viljoen stepped up and immediately led the side to his third successive Currie Cup final. Ironically, this time his side lost to Transvaal. After three years out of rugby he returned in 1997 to take over a moribund Western Province side. Viljoen quickly revitalized the team's playing affairs, taking them to the Currie Cup final where they overcame Free State to give him his first victory in the final. But Viljoen's real distinction -- one rare in professional sport -- is that he has yet to be sacked. He left Transvaal because of friction with former union president Louis Luyt, he ended his connection with Natal rather than move from his home in Johannesburg to Durban and he quit Western Province to concentrate on business interests. His financial success in the business world has made him independent of the need to earn a living from rugby coaching, and consequently he has dedicated only four of the past 10 years to it. Accepting the Springbok job means Viljoen will have to delegate work as chairman and founder of his own company, Edge Investments, an asset management and assurance company for high net worth individuals and companies, at least for now. As a coach he has often been described as a visionary and his Edge Investments profile describes him as the company's "visionary now and into the future". But it is the practical side of his CV that will be of greater interest to South African rugby fans hoping for instant results following five defeats from eight matches in 2000. Viljoen's first test match is against Argentina in Buenos Aires on November 12.
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