WE’RE STANDING IN the Springboks’ private area of the Southern Sun hotel in Pretoria, getting tips for places to eat from the local journalists, when a familiar face emerges from one of the team rooms. The sight of Jerry Flannery in Springboks gear is something that will take a while more to get used to. He’s as friendly as always, shaking hands and checking in, but he’s a busy man with lots of work to get done before Saturday’s first Test against his native Ireland.
Last weekend’s win over Wales was a good start to Flannery’s tenure as the Boks defence coach but he will expect a different challenge from Ireland at Loftus Versfeld. And this one is personal. This new role marks the latest step in an impressive coaching career, the 45-year-old having joined South Africa after a four-year stint at Harlequins in which the English club won the Premiership for the first time in nearly a decade.
It wasn’t always certain that Flannery was going to be a rugby coach. When he was forced to retire from playing in 2012, he took on a Master’s degree in sports performance, then joined English football coach Arsenal as a strength and conditioning coach. But Anthony Foley was in his ear and eventually convinced Flannery to return to Munster as scrum coach in 2014.
In typical fashion, Flannery didn’t waste a minute getting stuck into the new role, as former Munster second row Billy Holland remembers from a trip the same month as Flannery was appointed. “I went on Tomás .