Bulls fight off Tigers bid for Meyer's man
Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:15
A Tigerish look: Heyneke Meyer, Leicester's new coach
The Blue Bulls have turned down a request from Leicester Tigers for an early release for defence coach John McFarland, forcing the English Premiership side to look elsewhere to fill this vacancy.
It has been confirmed that the Leicester outfit had approached the Bulls in the hope that Meyer would secure the services of his former Blue Bulls colleague and close friend John McFarland to fill the vacancy created by Neil Back's departure to Leeds Carnegie.
"Yes, they [Leicester Tigers] contacted us [about signing McFarland]," Blue Bulls CEO Barend van Graan told rugby365.com on Friday.
"John [McFarland] has been in talks with us, but he will remain here [at the Bulls in Pretoria].
"We have a very high regard for John and that is why we would like to retain his services," Van Graan added.
Meyer, who took the Blue Bulls to three consecutive Currie Cup victories and won the Super 14 with the Bulls in 2007, told the Leicester Mercy this week that he needs to fill the role of defence coach "as soon as possible".
Tigers begin their Guinness Premiership campaign against Gloucester in a fortnight.
Meyer said that having no defence coach in place this close to the start of the season was "not ideal."
But he added it was vital that the club hired the right man for the job.
"It's not been finalised yet and it's not an ideal situation going into your first game in two weeks," he told the newspaper.
"However, we want to make sure that we get the right type of person and not everyone is out of contract at this stage of the season.
"It's difficult to get the right personality in there."
Any new recruit would complete Meyer's backroom staff, with Richard Cockerill in charge of the forwards and Aussie Matt O'Connor the new backs coach.
By Jan de Koning
