{"id":10372,"date":"2012-05-01T20:30:13","date_gmt":"2012-05-01T18:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/05\/update-1-rugby-smith-says-no-to-england-while-catt-comes-in\/"},"modified":"2012-05-01T20:30:13","modified_gmt":"2012-05-01T18:30:13","slug":"update-1-rugby-smith-says-no-to-england-while-catt-comes-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/update-1-rugby-smith-says-no-to-england-while-catt-comes-in\/","title":{"rendered":"UPDATE 1-Rugby-Smith says no to England while Catt comes in"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

(Recasts with Smith turning down role)<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

LONDON<\/span> May 1 (Reuters) – Former All Blacks coach Wayne
\nSmith has rejected a role with England but Mike Catt will join
\nthe backroom staff for next month’s five-match tour of South
\nAfrica, the RFU said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Smith, who helped guide his country to World Cup victory at
\nhome last year, told the Rugby Football Union website
\n(www.rfu.com) that he had decided to stay in New Zealand for
\npersonal reasons.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“It was an incredibly difficult decision,” he said, after
\nringing England head coach Stuart Lancaster to tell him his
\ndecision.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“I took the job with the (Waikato) Chiefs so I could move
\nnearer to elderly parents. I have travelled the globe with rugby
\nfor the last 15 years and I want to fulfil my commitment to be
\ncloser to them.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“I do also feel some loyalty to the Chiefs and the job that
\nI have with them and leaving after eight months when I have a
\nyear left on my contract did not feel right.”<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Former England utility back Catt will leave London Irish
\nafter Saturday’s final Premiership game against Gloucester for
\nEngland duties from May 7 to June 30.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“Mike has played at the top level and is highly respected.
\nHe has done a great job whilst coaching at London Irish and we
\nare looking forward to working with him on this South Africa
\ntour,” said Lancaster in a statement.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“He is experienced in playing in South Africa and this will
\nbe invaluable as we prepare for this challenging and exciting
\ntour.”
\n\u00a0 Continued…<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Recasts with Smith turning down role) LONDON May 1 (Reuters) – Former All Blacks coach Wayne Smith has rejected a role with England but Mike Catt will join the backroom staff for next month’s five-match tour of South Africa, the RFU said on Tuesday. Smith, who helped guide his country to World Cup victory at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-10372","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10372\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}