Blue Bulls demote Currie Cup coach Edgar Marutlulle after four games, Jake White takes over

The Blue Bulls have demoted Edgar Marutlulle after just four Currie Cup matches, with director of rugby Jake White assuming all the coaching reins at the organisation.

White, who coached the Pretoria side to two Currie Cup victories two years ago, leads a rejigged coaching team that includes assistants Gert Smal, Hugo van As and Sean Everitt.

Marutlulle, a former Bulls and Lions hooker, drops back to the Blue Bulls junior structures at Under-19 and Under-20, where he was operating before he was elevated to Currie Cup head coach - the first black head coach in the union's history - at the start of the year.

Now, just four months down the line, Marutlulle is being moved back down the ranks.

The Bulls are on a 10-match losing streak in all competitions, in which White has overseen seven of those, after taking over midway through the Currie Cup for their loss to Western Province last month despite playing a strong team.

The other defeats have come in the United Rugby Championship (URC) as well as the Champions Cup, which they exited in the round of 16 in Toulouse last Sunday.

"The changes come after Edgar Marutlulle and director of rugby, Jake White met and agreed that the best course of action was to allow Marutlulle to step back and resume his work in junior rugby," the Blue Bulls said in a statement on Wednesday.

"White will assume head coaching responsibilities of the Currie Cup team whilst assistant coaches Gert Smal, Hugo van As and Sean Everitt will remain in their current roles until the end of their short-term contracts. Now that the franchise is out of the Champions Cup competition, White’s time has been freed up to assume the Currie Cup [rein] too."

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