South African rugby chiefs have been linked to an audacious bid to try and hijack Dave Rennie's move to Glasgow Warriors.
The Scotland Rugby Union remain confident that there is no danger of them losing the Chiefs head coach who they announced will take over from Gregor Townsend next year.
Reports from South Africa suggest that Rennie tops the list that also includes Munster head coach Rassie Erasmus and Montpellier's Jake White to be the new coach of the Springboks if Allister Coetzee is sacked.
Some senior South African rugby officials believe Coetzee, who has overseen the worst Springbok season in history, is not up to the job and should be dismissed. The Boks have won only four of 12 Tests under him with the fans starting a petition to have him sacked.
The run of dreadful results include a first ever home loss to Ireland, a record 57-15 home defeat to New Zealand, as well as losses to England, Italy and Wales during the Autumn Test series.
Coetzee is set to face a performance appraisal by a sub-committee of SA Rugby and will know in a week's time whether or not he will remain in the top job.
A stumbling block to Coetzee's removal will be the required £740,000 to pay off the remaining two years of his contract. With the South African rugby union in the red to the tune of around £1m, paying off Coetzee and also buying out the two-year contract Rennie has with Glasgow, figures for which have not been disclosed, could be out with their range financially regardless how much they rate the New Zealander.
Rennie, who has signed a two year deal with a one year option at Glasgow, has made clear that he had always planned to wait till after the 2019 Rugby World Cup to go into international coaching.
"There'll be a lot of international jobs come up after 2019 but ultimately the thinking is it will give me a couple of years at Glasgow and then give me a chance to see how things have gone," he said before he signed his deal with the Warriors.
A Glasgow Warriors spokesman said the club had no comment on the matter.
