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United Rugby Championship

Jake White leaves Bulls with immediate effect

By Josh Raisey

37 days ago

Vodacom Bulls head coach Jake White before the United Rugby Championship match between Munster and Vodacom Bulls at Thomond Park in Limerick. (Photo By David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Jake White and the Bulls have mutually agreed to part ways following an end of season review.

The decision has been reached after the Bulls fell short in the United Rugby Championship final last month to Leinster, their second final loss in a row and third in four years.

Despite ultimately being unsuccessful in his pursuit of a URC title, the former South Africa head coach did collect some silverware during his five-year stint in Pretoria, winning Super Rugby Unlocked in 2020 and the Currie Cup the year later.

In a statement released by the Bulls, White said: “I have made the decision to move on. With many years’ coaching experience, I felt it would be difficult to get the squad to perform to the next level. Therefore, in the best interest of both myself and the Bulls I feel it’s time for a new chapter. It’s time for this group to have a new voice.

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“I have enjoyed my time in Pretoria. I met some wonderful friends. I believe that rugby is like life – you win some you lose some. You learn as you grow. You need to be strong and courageous and, most importantly, it isn’t always fair.

“I would like to thank all the loyal supporters, the Bulls staff that worked tirelessly, and to the players for their hard work and dedication. I wish BBRU president Willem Strauss and the amateur game lots of success in the future.

“To the shareholders, I will always be grateful for all the support and financial backing they gave, far and beyond any other club. Thank you for the privilege. To the Board for their support and CEO, Edgar Rathbone, coaches and management, it was great to be part of this winning culture. To be part of Bulls rugby history has been an absolute honour. I wish Bulls rugby all the best.”

Bulls CEO Edgar Rathbone said: “Jake has tremendous rugby IP, and that has been visible in the way he was able to transfer it into our structures and as a club we remain grateful for those contributions made during his tenure.

“He did amazing work here and it was a privilege to work with him as he helped our team become a superpower again. He has given us a great platform to build upon with a talented crop of young players who are just finding their true offering.

“He also helped the bigger playing group develop, with 10 emerging to play for the Springboks. This encouraging growth also ensured we were often in the mix for silverware.”

Club president Willem Strauss added: “On behalf of the club, the supporters, the staff and all our shareholders, I would like to thank Jake for the work he has done, the love and passion he has shown to our players, people and community during his time with us.

“His leadership has left a fantastic mark on our club, and the way he fought to get us up when we needed it the most will make him a hero of ours for a long time to come. He leaves the club in a better place than when he arrived.

“During his rugby directorship, he helped elevate our grassroots game in the manner that he devised our integration strategy between the high-performance environment and our club ecosystem.”

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Comments

31 Comments

Flankly 36 days ago

Bad decision for all concerned.

It is not a win for the Bulls, the fans, SA rugby or for Jake. Unless there is some undisclosed scandal, change could only make any sense at all if they have already lined up his successor, which does not seem to be the case, given the lack of announcement about that.

There are evidently some major issues to resolve, related to how he has been making decisions, managing, communicating etc. So why aren’t they just making some adjustments and getting back to work? Or why aren’t they agreeing a transition period with Jake? It looks like weak executive management.

At the end of the day Jake has rebuilt the Bulls into a serious and consistent contender for championships, which is more than can be said for the leaders of certain other well-resourced SA franchises.

It’s reminiscent of how Jake was ejected post 2007 RWC, having spent a few years building that winning team. As with the Bulls the Boks were in disarray before Jake came on board. But they replaced him, handing other coaches the ongoing wins that Jake’s team subsequently delivered. While that team did deliver a couple of years of further success, in the absence of a continued strategic build the Boks naturally slipped down the world rankings. The loss of Jake cost the Boks dearly.

The Bulls are in danger of getting on a similar trajectory. The team is clearly very strong, and will be stronger with Pollard. So whatever coach takes over will initially do OK, if not very well. And the new coach will get credit for the work that Jake has done to date.

But the question is whether the Bulls exec team have the ability to bring in someone that can really build on the good foundations, and indeed whether they have been working on that. Naming the new head coach as part of the Jake announcement would have been good evidence of a transition plan designed to take the team from strength to strength.

It seems they are happy with a pilotless plane. Good luck with that.

Hellhound 36 days ago

I completely agree

Hammer Head 36 days ago

Jake has a shelf life at any team he is part of. Gets on managements t1ts after a while b1tching and moaning.

He was director of rugby - not much hands on coaching went down.

Ricksta 36 days ago

So Jake White has said: “With many years’ coaching experience, I felt it would be difficult to get the squad to perform to the next level.”

Oh, really?

What does that even mean?

It seems yet another negative and questionable comment from this man.

This follows a similarly questionable comment, post the URC Final v Leinster, where he basically said the Bulls needed to buy superstars to be able to win the big games - thereby, in one fell swoop, completely excusing any of his own failings and, at the same time, also demoralising any current up-and-coming Bulls player into thinking that White does not rate him one bit - and these utterances made me think too that it was only a matter of time before this guy left.

Maybe he said all that to engineer his own exit.

Who knows?

If that's the case, I hope he doesn’t slam the door on his way out.

Will be interesting, though, to see where he lands up next - if anywhere - and I’m sure that any club owner, reading or hearing the stuff he said recently, would think twice about hiring this guy, who after all, couldn’t drag the Bulls over the final hurdle in three finals - one at home - and who they know will blame any failure on the lack of a big enough cheque-book to his liking.

Hellhound 36 days ago

It's 4 failed finals if you throw in the rainbow Cup which was the actual first season of the URC where Benetton beat the Bulls in the final.

I'm not going to diss Jake White. When he took over the reigns at the Bulls, they were as bad as the Springboks before Rassie took over. Jake did excellent work at the Bulls. He made them a very good team, a regular contenders for trophies and he has rebuild the Bulls into a great team. He has unearthed massive talent, adding to the Bok squad's depth immensely.

However, through out Jake's career, he always managed to make great teams, but mostly fail at the last hurdle. Very unfortunate for him. He knows he reached his ceiling, and to push the Bulls up one more level isn't in his make up. I hate to lose Jake, because he did so much for the Bulls and Springbok rugby, bringing back home great players too. Not to even think of the young talent he brought forth. The Bulls scrum is just on another level compared to the rest of club rugby. Very few can stop that scrum, very few. He honestly left the Bulls in a much better place than he found them.

Hammer Head 36 days ago

Nail on the head.

The only thing bigger than Jake’s ego is his mouth. Which he shoots off against the hand that feeds him religiously. I can’t believe the Bulls Organisation tolerated him for as long as they did. He gets very long in the tooth after a while. Blaming them for his performance as DIRECTOR of rugby.

He does this everywhere he goes.

Next article we’ll probably get from him will be him blaming SARU and probably Rassie for his inability to win with the bulls. Maybe even blaming the bulls players themselves from whom he would expect unwavering commitment to his beliefs.

That final against Leinster was a disgrace. Zero game plan. He decided not to bother even trying to win that game “because it’s not fair…”.

Hellhound 37 days ago

Jake reached his ceiling at the Bulls. A tremendous coach who restored Bulls pride and made them a force again. Going to miss you Jake. I just hope your replacement can elevate the Bulls

Hammer Head 37 days ago

He reached his ceiling at the Brumbies even.

Ackerman? Heyneke?

Although I am getting bored with retreaded coaches. The bulls should be able to secure the services of a top coach if they can afford Handre Pollard.

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