Nick Mallett
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Nicholas Vivian Howard Mallett (born October 30, 1956 at Haileybury, England) played for and coached the Springboks, South Africa's national rugby union team.
Mallett was born in England, but grew up in Rhodesia and South Africa. He graduated from the University of Cape Town and from University College, Oxford, where he won Blues in rugby union and cricket. Returning to South Africa, he represented Western Province in four Currie Cups, and played for the Springboks in 1984.
After seven years playing and coaching rugby in France, he returned to South Africa in 1996 and was appointed national coach in 1997.
In 1998, under Mallett's guidance, the Springboks went on a record winning streak, winning 17 consecutive tests, including the 1998 Tri Nations Series, before an exhausted team lost to England at the end of a long tour.
1999 saw less promising performances, and defeat by eventual champions Australia in the World Cup semi-final.
In 2000, Mallett accused the South Africa Rugby Football Union (SARFU) of "greed" for selling Tri-Nations championship tickets at inflated prices. He had alientated the SARFU executive, and on September 27, he resigned as national coach at the start of a disciplinary hearing began into allegations that his comments had brought the game into disrepute.
Mallett moved back to France as coach for the Paris club Stade Francais.
2003 saw some manoeuvring towards Mallett's possible reinstatement as national coach, but Mallett continued to criticise the SARFU hierarchy.
External links
- Stade Francais (http://www.stade.fr/)
- Mallett calls for shake-up in South African rugby (http://quickstart.clari.net/qs_se/webnews/wed/bq/Qrugbyu-wc2003-rsa.Rs-6_DNA.html)