Irishman Paddy Sullivan has joined Rassie Erasmus’ Springboks coaching staff after a successful tenure with the team at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
Sullivan joined the Boks as an analysis consultant ahead of the tournament in France last year, but will now serve as a performance analyst for South Africa.
He is the latest addition to Erasmus’ coaching staff ahead of the 2024 season, following the recruitment of former All Blacks fly-half Tony Brown and former Ireland hooker Jerry Flannery.
Paddy Sullivan joins the Springboks coaching squad.
Sullivan evidently impressed during his brief spell with the Springboks in 2023, and he will take on the post full-time in 2024 as the back-to-back world champions prepare for the forthcoming international season, which begins with a one-off Test against Wales and then two Tests against Irelan
The Killarney native has rugby in his blood; his father, Ben, played for Killarney RFC, while his brother Leonard represented Ireland at the underage level.
Meanwhile, he played for Killarney, Shannon, and Munster before transitioning to coaching and analysis.
He is yet another former Munster coach that Erasmus has hired, having started as an analytical intern for the Irish province in 2013. He left Munster to join Top 14 club Pau in 2015, before Erasmus joined Munster as an assistant performance analyst for the senior team and a young coach.
Sullivan joined Montpellier as a senior performance analyst in 2021 and helped the team win its first Top 14 title in 2022.
Montpellier supported Sullivan’s involvement with the Springboks throughout the World Cup, but he is now likely to leave the French club to
We’ve examined what it takes to be on the cutting edge of the game, and we’ve repurposed the management structure to devote as much resources as possible to the technical aspect of the game,” Erasmus said about the hiring.
“The players will continue to receive the required off-field support, but we wanted to ensure that the correct jobs were filled so that the main thing remained the main thing.”
Sullivan’s addition completes the Springboks’ coaching reorganization ahead of the 2019 World Cup cycle.
Brown, who formerly coached the Highlanders, Sunwolves, and Japan, has been appointed as the team’s new offensive coach, filling the void created by Felix Jones, who joined Steve Borthwick’s England staff.
Flannery joins the team following a successful stint as Harlequins’ defence coach, having begun his coaching career at Munster.
After passing up the opportunity to acquire Nigel Owens, SA Rugby hired veteran referee Jaco Peyper as Laws and Discipline Advisor.
