Matt Proudfoot said taking up the head coaching job at the Leopards will allow him to apply his knowledge gleaned from working with the Springboks and England.
The 52-year-old former Scotland international was on Monday revealed as the new man in charge of the Currie Cup First Division outfit.
Proudfoot, who recently served as a deputy coach to Allister Coetzee with Namibia, was previously a member of Rassie Erasmus’ successful 2019 World Cup coaching staff and worked under Eddie Jones with England.
He also guided Maties to a semi-final place in the 2023 Varsity Cup.
In a wide-ranging interview with News24, Proudfoot, who represented the Leopards 56 times at the senior level, explained how his experiences with the Boks and England has moulded his coaching style while emphasising the importance of returning to where his professional career began.
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“I’m really focusing on my roots again. I coached Pukke for five years and we were really successful,” he told News24. “I learn constantly. I want to empower everyone around me and pass on experiences to them, they’ll be better too and actively contribute to us building a better team.
“I do believe I have a lot of effective insights to provide with my international exposure … I know people consider me a scrum guru, but I’m an individual who’s actually very comfortable coaching fundamentals of attack, defence and breakdown.
“If I can make the player better, the chain we have isn’t going to break. That’s my priorities: fundamentals and conditioning. That’s my speciality.
“I’d like to believe I helped create a tight pack of forwards at the Springboks and now I can create a tight unit overall here in Potch.”
The post Proudfoot: I’m more than a ‘scrum guru’ appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Src: sarugbymag.co.za
