Nick Mallett

Last updated

Nick Mallett
Birth nameNicholas Vivian Haward Mallett [1] [2]
Date of birth (1956-10-30) 30 October 1956 (age 67)
Place of birth Haileybury, England
Height193 cm (6 ft 4 in)
Weight102 kg (225 lb)
School St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown
University University of Cape Town
University of Oxford
Rugby union career
Position(s) Number eight
Amateur team(s)
YearsTeamApps(Points)
1977 Western Province ()
1979–1980 Oxford University RFC ()
1980–1985 Western Province ()
1982–1983 Rugby Rovigo ()
1985–1990 Saint-Claude ()
1990–1992 Boulogne-Billancourt ()
International career
YearsTeamApps(Points)
1984 South Africa 2 (4)
Coaching career
YearsTeam
1984–1985 Rugby Rovigo
1985–1990 Saint-Claude
1994–1995 False Bay Rugby Club
1995–1996 Boland Cavaliers
1996–1997 South Africa (assistant coach)
1997–2000 South Africa
2002–2004 Stade Français
2007–2011 Italy
2009 Barbarians
2013 South African Barbarians
2014 World XV
Correct as of 11-16-2011

Nicholas Vivian Haward Mallett [3] [4] (born 30 October 1956) is a former South African rugby union player who played for the Springboks, South Africa's national rugby union team, in 1984. He also coached the Springboks between 1997 and 2000 and was the head coach of Italy's rugby union team between 2007 and 2011. [5]

Contents

Early life

Born on 30 October 1956 in Hertford Heath, England, Mallett moved to Rhodesia with his family in 1956 when he was only six weeks old, and his father, Tony Mallett, took up a post as an English teacher at the recently founded Peterhouse Boys' School, in Marandellas near Salisbury. [6] Nick first arrived in Cape Town, South Africa in 1963, when his father was appointed Headmaster of Diocesan College, after which he attended St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown. He graduated from the University of Cape Town in 1977 with a BA in English and History. While a student at the university, he was selected to play for the Western Province rugby union team.

Playing career

In 1979 Mallett moved back to England to attend University College at the University of Oxford, where he not only gained further qualifications but also won Blues in rugby union and cricket, famously hitting three sixes in one over off Ian Botham. Eventually he returned to South Africa, where he represented Western Province in four consecutive Currie Cup wins between 1982 and 1985, and played two games for the Springboks in 1984 against the South American Jaguars.

Test history

No.OpponentsResults
(SA 1st)		PositionTriesDatesVenue
1. Flag sudamerica xv 1980.jpg South American Jaguars 32–15 Number 8 120 Oct 1984 Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
2. Flag sudamerica xv 1980.jpg South American Jaguars22–13Number 827 Oct 1984 Newlands, Cape Town

Coaching career

The beginning

Mallett once again left South Africa in 1985, this time for France, where he played and coached rugby for seven years until 1992 before eventually returning to South Africa in 1994 and taking a job as Head of the False Bay Rugby Club until 1995.

Between 1995 and 1996, Mallett took up the role of head coach of the Boland Cavaliers before being appointed assistant coach to the Springboks in 1996 and finally getting the job of Springbok Coach in 1997.

Coach of Springboks (1997–2000)

Between August 1997 and December 1998, under Mallett's guidance, the Springboks went on a record winning streak of 17 consecutive test wins. As part of the unbeaten run the Springboks won the Tri Nations Series undefeated and beat several teams by record margins, including a 52–10 against France in Paris, a 68–10 win over Scotland in Edinburgh, a 33–0 defeat of Ireland and a 96–13 against Wales. The run ended when the Springbok team was defeated by England at Twickenham at the end of a long tour on 5 December 1998.

The relationship between Mallet and Gary Teichmann, one of South Africa's most successful team captains ever (with 36 wins), began to sour and Teichman was controversially excluded from the 1999 Rugby World Cup squad. Mallet looked for a new captain, first turning to Corné Krige then Rassie Erasmus, Joost van der Westhuizen and André Vos for a solution. In the end, despite the internal instability in the squad, the Springboks managed four consecutive wins [7] and were finally knocked out of the championship in the semi-final by eventual winners Australia. Despite his team's relatively mediocre results of 8 wins and 5 losses in 1999, the Springboks still managed to break more records, beating Italy 101–0 and England in the quarter-final 44–21, with Jannie de Beer kicking a world-record five drop goals in that game.

In 2000, Mallett accused the South Africa Rugby Football Union (SARFU) of "greed" for selling Tri-Nations championship tickets at inflated prices. [8] He had alienated the SARFU executive, and on 27 September he resigned as national coach at the start of a disciplinary hearing began into allegations that his comments had brought the game into disrepute. [9] Some fans, upset by how he had treated Teichman and his team's sudden poor performance, were also keen to see him go. [10]

In spite of his team's relatively poor performance and the internal strife that marred his final years as coach, Mallett remains one of South Africa's most successful coaches ever, having won 27 of the 38 tests played under his guidance and rewriting the record books several times [11]

Stade Français (2002–04)

Mallett moved back to France as coach for the Paris club Stade Français, which he led to two consecutive French domestic title wins in 2003 and 2004 before returning to South Africa where he accepted the job of Director of Rugby at Western Province. Initially there was speculation[ citation needed ] that he might coach the Springbok team again, but those rumours were quashed by the appointment of Jake White as the new South African coach.

Mallet was linked with the position of England coach after the coerced resignation of Andy Robinson [12] in 2006, a position that eventually went to Brian Ashton. [13] In 2007 Mallett became coach of Italy.

Italy (2007–11)

On 3 October 2007, Mallett replaced Frenchman Pierre Berbizier as "CT" ("Technical Commissioner", i.e. coach) of the Italy national rugby union team. His Six Nations debut was fairly impressive; Italy were defeated by Ireland 11–16 in the first game, but came close to victory against Jonny Wilkinson's England team. [14] Italy lost also against Wales and France. In those matches he gave Andrea Marcato and Alberto Sgarbi their debuts'. In the final game, Mallett's team beat Scotland 23–20, thanks to Marcato's late drop goal. However, Italy won the wooden spoon because their points difference was worse than Scotland's.

During the summer test matches, he got a good result against South Africa, the world champions at the time, in Cape Town, despite Italy losing 0–26. [15] In Córdoba Italy beat Argentina for the first time thanks to Leonardo Ghiraldini's try and a late penalty by Marcato.

He also coached the Barbarians against the All Blacks in December 2009 with the 'Baa-Baas' winning 25–18. [16] In 2010 Mallet coached the Barbarians to victory over South Africa.

In the 2010 Six Nations, Mallett guided Italy to a 16–12 win against Scotland. Despite this victory, Italy's only win in the competition, they didn't avoid the wooden spoon because Scotland's points difference was just one better. In the 2011 Six Nations Championship Italy beat France by 22–21 in arguably their best victory to date. [17]

Retirement (2011–present)

In November 2011, after the World Cup in New Zealand, Nick Mallett's contract as head coach of Italy expired and he returned to Cape Town with Frenchman Jacques Brunel taking over the Italy job. Mallett has stated that he wishes to spend time with his family in South Africa, despite being briefly linked to the position as Coach of England following Martin Johnson's [18] resignation.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Africa national rugby union team</span> National sports team

The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks, is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jerseys with white shorts, and their emblem is the Springbok, a native antelope and the national animal of South Africa. The team has represented South African Rugby Union in international rugby union since 30 July 1891, when they played their first test match against a British Isles touring team. Currently, the Springboks are the top-ranked rugby team in the world and reigning World Champions, having won the World Cup a record four times. Remarkably, the Springboks have won half of the Rugby World Cups they have participated in and are also the second nation to win the World Cup consecutively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australia national rugby union team</span> Australia national rugby union team

The Australia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of Australia. The team first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against the touring British Isles team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italy national rugby union team</span> Team representing Italy in mens international rugby union

The Italy national rugby union team represents the Italian Rugby Federation in men's international rugby union. The team is known as gli Azzurri. Savoy blue is the common colour of the national teams representing Italy, as it is the traditional colour of the royal House of Savoy which reigned over the Kingdom of Italy from 1860 to 1946.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francois Pienaar</span> Rugby player

Jacobus Francois Pienaar is a retired South African rugby union player. He played flanker for South Africa from 1993 until 1996, winning 29 international caps, all of them as captain. He is best known for leading South Africa to victory in the 1995 Rugby World Cup. After being dropped from the Springbok team in 1996, Pienaar went on to a career with English club Saracens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Schalk Burger</span> Rugby player

Schalk Willem Petrus Burger Jr. is a South African former professional rugby union player. He played as a flanker for Saracens in the English Premiership and has won 86 caps for South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Jones (rugby union)</span> Australian rugby union coach and former player

Edward Jones is an Australian rugby union coach and former player. He most recently coached the Australia national team from January until October 2023. He previously coached Australia, Japan and England. He returned to the role of Japan head coach in January 2024.

Andries Thomas "Andre" Markgraaff is a retired South African rugby union lock. He matriculated at Diamantveld High School and was a controversial national coach, who resigned after he was taped using the racial term kaffir.

Gary Hamilton Teichmann is a retired South African professional rugby union player. He played number eight and captained the South African national team, the Springboks, between 1995 and 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Smit</span> Rugby player

John William Smit, OIS, is a South African former professional rugby union player and former chief executive officer of the Sharks. He was the 50th captain of the Springbok rugby union team and led the team to win the 2007 Rugby World Cup. He played most of his senior career as a hooker, but also won 13 caps as a prop, where he had also played for South Africa's under-21 team. He retired from international rugby following the 2011 Rugby World Cup as the most-capped South African player ever, with 111 appearances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alun Wyn Jones</span> Wales and British Lions international rugby union player

Alun Wyn Jones is a Welsh former international rugby union player who played as a lock. He played most of his career for Ospreys and for the Wales national team. He is the world's most-capped rugby union player, with 158 caps for Wales and 13 for the British & Irish Lions, and also holds the records for the most Wales caps and the second most Wales caps as captain. He retired from rugby in 2023.

George Moir Christie, better known as Kitch Christie, was a South African rugby union coach best known for coaching the country's national team, the Springboks, to victory at the 1995 Rugby World Cup. He remained unbeaten during his tenure as Springbok rugby coach between 1994 and 1996, including leading the team to a then record 14 consecutive victories. In 2011, he was inducted posthumously into the IRB Hall of Fame, later subsumed into the World Rugby Hall of Fame.

Henry William Honiball is a South African former professional rugby union footballer. He usually played at fly-half and sometimes as a centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrea Marcato</span> Rugby player

Andrea Marcato is an Italian rugby union coach and former international player. He won 16 caps for Italy and played in the 2008 and 2009 Six Nations Championships. After the end of his playing career he began coaching and is the head coach of Petrarca Rugby, a position he has held since 2017.

McNeil Hendricks, also known as "Maccie", is a former South African rugby union player who played primarily as a wing. He starred in the movie Invictus, in which he played the role of Chester Williams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacques Brunel (rugby union)</span> Rugby player

Jacques Brunel is a French rugby union coach and former player. He was most recently the French national team head coach, having previously been assistant coach for his nation and had led the Italian national team between 2011 and 2016. Brunel, who has spent most of his career in France, formally coached his former team Auch, as well as Bordeaux Bègles, Colomiers, Pau and Perpignan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eben Etzebeth</span> Rugby player

Eben Etzebeth is a South African professional rugby union player who currently plays for the Sharks in the United Rugby Championship and the South Africa national rugby team. He made his international debut for the Springboks in 2012 and has since won more than 100 caps. His regular playing position is as a number 4 lock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allister Coetzee</span> Rugby player

Allister Coetzee is a South African rugby union coach and former player, currently in charge of the Namibian national team on a part time basis, whilst also head coach of Rugby Rovigo in Italy. He served as the head coach of the South African national team from April 2016 to February 2018.

Pieter Willem Gabriel Rossouw is a South African former professional rugby player and current coach. Rossouw played wing for Western Province in the Currie Cup and the Stormers in the Super Rugby competition. He played a total of 43 times for the Springboks, making him one of the most capped Springbok wingers after South Africa's readmission to international rugby. He was also one of South Africa's most prolific try-scoring wingers, post-isolation, with only Breyton Paulse(26) and Bryan Habana(53) scoring more tries. He is 7th on the all-time try-scoring list for the Springboks. Rossouw is currently the backline coach of the Bulls in Super rugby and the Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup. He was known as "Slaptjips", apparently because the sight of his running legs was like potato chips slapping together. Pieter is the older brother of Chris Rossouw, who played flyhalf for Western Province and the Free State Cheetahs.

The History of the South Africa national rugby union team dates back to 1891, when the British Lions first toured South Africa where they played against South African representative sides. The South Africa national rugby union team played few international matches during a period of international sanctions due to apartheid. Since the end of apartheid in 1994, South Africa has once again fully participated in international rugby.

Jean-Luc du Preez (born 5 August 1995 is a South African rugby union player for Sale Sharks in the English Premiership. He made his debut for South Africa in 2016 and his regular position is flanker, although he also plays at lock and number eight.

References

  1. ↑ A Statistical History of Springbok Rugby: Players, Tours, and Matches, Teddy Shnaps, South African Rugby Board, 1989, p. 146
  2. ↑ The Complete Book of Springbok Rugby Records, Kobus Smit, Don Nelson, 2007, p. 103
  3. ↑ A Statistical History of Springbok Rugby: Players, Tours, and Matches, Teddy Shnaps, South African Rugby Board, 1989, p. 146
  4. ↑ The Complete Book of Springbok Rugby Records, Kobus Smit, Don Nelson, 2007, p. 103
  5. ↑ L'Italia a un oxfordianoMallet nuovo c.t. azzurro – Gazzetta dello Sport
  6. ↑ "Peterhouse Nostalgia – Memories". Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  7. ↑ "1999 Rugby World Cup Results". RugbyWeek.com. Archived from the original on 2 March 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  8. ↑ Gallagher, Brendan (21 March 2012). "Former South Africa and Italy coach Nick Mallett brings formidable pedigree to the fight for the England job". The Telegraph. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  9. ↑ Gallagher, Brendan (21 March 2012). "Former South Africa and Italy coach Nick Mallett brings formidable pedigree to the fight for the England job". The Telegraph. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  10. ↑ Kruger, Pieter (30 August 2000). "South Africa: Mallett Seems on a Road to Nowhere". Business Day. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  11. ↑ "SA Rugby Records". SuperSport.com. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  12. ↑ "Robinson is forced out by England". BBC Sport. 29 November 2006. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  13. ↑ Ashton given 'long-term' contract
  14. ↑ Carlo Gobbi (10 February 2008). "L'Italia si sveglia tardi: Inghilterra mai così vicina". Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). Retrieved 5 September 2008.
  15. ↑ Brad Morgan (23 June 2008). "Springboks beat Italy in the wet". SouthAfrica.info. Archived from the original on 25 October 2008. Retrieved 5 September 2008.
  16. ↑ "Nick Mallett shows Barbarians how to win by playing positive rugby". The Daily Telegraph . London. 7 December 2009. Archived from the original on 1 February 2023.
  17. ↑ "Italy 22 France 21: match report". The Daily Telegraph. London. 12 March 2011. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
  18. ↑ "Martin Johnson says quitting England his decision". BBC Sport. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
Sporting positions
Preceded by Italy National Rugby Union Coach
2007–2011		Succeeded by
Preceded by South Africa National Rugby Union Coach
1997–2000		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.