South Africa looking for extra edge with Jaco Peyper role

While Jerry Flannery and Tony Brown are the high-profile additions to the South Africa coaching ticket in 2024, another important appointment has come in under the radar.

Former international referee Jaco Peyper, who retired following the World Cup due to a persistent Achilles issue, thought he was out of the game before being pulled back in to work as part of the senior South African coaching team as a 'Laws and Discipline Advisor'.

He isn't the first referee to to go from poacher to gamekeeper, with French rugby setting the initial trend. In 2021, Jerome Garces made a surprising retirement announcement to join the French coaching staff as their laws advisor, while another former ref, Romain Poite, has also been working with Top14 sides.

Coaching teams have become more specialised in recent seasons, with plenty of teams employing coaches for specifics like contact skills, scrummaging, ball skills and breakdown work. As such, it pays to have a referee's perspective in camp on a daily basis.

"It has been quite a turnaround, but I guess when rugby is in your blood, it is hard to stay away," Peyper says of sideways move into retirement.

"A few months ago, I had a meeting with my wife and we agreed that we were done with rugby. Two weeks later we have to go to the same restaurant, another bottle of wine and I had to explain to her that I am back into rugby," he laughs.

And the South African explains the nature of his new role.

"We never plan to not concede penalties, we plan to avoid avoidable penalties. If you take part in the game you are going to conceded penalties somewhere.

"We class them in one, or two or three categories. Like I say it is a developing science, it's a job that is going to develop and get more detailed as we