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'Outside pressure' forced Ludeke out

Blue Bulls coach Frans Ludeke. Picture Credit: Gallo Images
Blue Bulls coach Frans Ludeke. Picture Credit: Gallo Images

Frans Ludeke apparently succumbed "to pressure from outside" the union in stepping down as the Bulls' Super Rugby and Currie Cup head coach.

Ludeke's decision was announced immediately after the Bulls' embarrassing 42-29 defeat at Loftus Versfeld to a Cheetahs team loaded with players from Bloemfontein's Varsity Cup-winning Shimlas team.

It was left to Bulls chief executive Barend van Graan to formalise the two-time Super Rugby-winning coach's departure after he had been at the helm of the Pretoria side for the past eight years.

"It was the pressure from outside," was Van Graan's only explanation for the parting of ways. "It was not an environment that impacted positively on the Bulls brand."

After giving the team's mandatory post-match press conference on Saturday, Ludeke looked unsettled and immediately walked out after the question- and-answer session was over, with his eyes focusing only on his feet.

"Frans requested not to be here for the announcement," Van Graan said when he delivered the news of the resignation.

The pressure on Ludeke has been building over the past two seasons, and it reached a crescendo this season when the side failed for the second season running to win any matches on their Australasian tour. The fans and, most tellingly, Bulls legend Naas Botha have been loudly calling for a change of coach, with the media also questioning his philosophy after failing to win any trophies since the 2010 Super Rugby title.

Although the coach would not admit it, five consecutive defeats at the tail end of this year's campaign suggested he had also lost the faith of the players.

"I don't believe I lost the players, but you can ask the players," Ludeke said. "I think everybody backed the cause, the campaign. Something special will come from this."

 

Springbok assistant coach Johann van Graan and Bulls and Bok lock Victor Matfield are believed to be the front-runners for the vacant post.

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