Dick John Muir (born 20 March 1965) is a South African former

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player, and now the interim head coach of

Netherlands national rugby union team The Netherlands national rugby union team ( nl, Nederlands nationaal rugby team) represents Netherlands in men's international rugby union competitions. Nicknamed The Oranges (''Oranje''), is considered one of the stronger tier 3 teams in Europ ...

. Muir played for

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

for most of his career before moving to

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: * Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provin ...

helping him to make his international debut for the Springboks in 1997. He won back-to-back Currie Cup titles with Natal in 1996 and a year later with Western Province in 1997. In 1998 he made his Stormers debut, where in late April 1999, Muir suffered a serious neck injury against the Auckland Blues which led to the centre retiring in mid May of that year.

Playing career

Muir made his

test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

debut for the

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

at the age of 32, against at Dall'Ara Stadium in Bologna, during the 1997 Springbok tour of Europe and scoring a try on debut. He then played in all test matches on the 1997 tour. Prior to 1997, Muir also toured with the Springboks to Argentina and Europe in 1996, playing five tour matches, scoring two tries.

Test history

Coaching career

Muir started coaching in 1999 where he was an Assistant coach for the Cats and had his first head coaching role in 2001 with Pirates Rugby Club where he learnt his coaching trade and led the

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

based side to the National Championship Title in the same year. In 2002 he became the head coach of the Tukkies first team and continued his winning form leading them to the a Championship winning campaign in 2003. During this same period he had a brief stint with in the Northern Hemisphere with Newport RFC before becoming head coach of the

Sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimorp ...

ahead of the

2005 Super 12 season The 2005 Super 12 season was the tenth season of the Super 12, contested by teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The season ran from February to May 2005, with each team playing all the others once. At the end of the regular season, ...

. Despite a poor start in is first year, finishing bottom of the table, he later coached the Durban Franchise to a near top-four finish in his second year to make the play-offs. By his third and final year at the side, he then led them all the way to the final, only to loose by a single point to the Bulls 19–20. In 2008,

Peter de Villiers Peter de Villiers (born 3 June 1957) is a South African professional rugby union coach and Good Party politician. He was coach of the South Africa national rugby union team from 2008 to 2011, after successes with the South African U19 and U21 ...

took over from

Jake White Jake White (born 13 December 1963 as ''Jacob Westerduin'') is a professional rugby union coach and former coach of the South African national team – the ''Springboks'' – whom he coached to victory in 2007 Rugby World Cup and the 2004 Tr ...

as the Springboks head coach following their 2007 Rugby World Cup triumph, and appointed Muir as his assistant to look after the backs. In 2009, the

South African Rugby Union The South African Rugby Union (SARU) is the governing body for rugby union in South Africa and is affiliated to World Rugby. It was established in 1992 as the South African Rugby Football Union, from the merger of the South African Rugby Board ...

revealed a International Rugby Academy mirroring the New Zealand model and Muir was selected to lead the programme, thus leading him to coach the

Emerging Springboks South Africa 'A', also formerly known as the Junior Springboks or the Emerging Springboks, are the second national rugby union team representing South Africa, below the senior national team, the Springboks. Until 2018, it was also under the Sou ...

against the

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

during their 2009 tour. In October 2009, he was appointed as the head coach of the

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus '' Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

for the

2010 Super 14 season The 2010 Super 14 season kicked off in February 2010 with pre-season matches held from mid-January. It finished on 29 May. The 2010 season was the fifth and last season of the expanded Super 14 format. The schedule, which covers 3½ months, feat ...

. With Muir's commitments with the Springboks during the international periods, John Mitchell joined the Franchise and would lead the side during the 2010 Currie Cup campaign. By the end of 2010 Muir was axed as the Lions head coach with Mitchell replacing him full time. After the 2011 Rugby World Cup Muir left his position with South Africa but continued on with his role with the International Rugby Academy which took him into schools and academies within the country. He came back onto the coaching scene in 2017 with Northwood Crusaders Rugby before joining back up with the Sharks as backs coach in 2018 but left at the conclusion of the 2018 rugby season. But returned in 2021 within the Academy set-up. On 23 December 2021, Muir was named as head coach of the Russian national team. However, because of the

Russo-Ukrainian war The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since February 2014. Following Ukraine's Rev ...

, the Russian team was suspended from playing international matches as of March 2022. Muir therefore had his contract cancelled and on 2 June 2022 was named interim head coach of the Dutch national rugby union team., Nederlands rugbyteam neemt interim-bondscoach Muir over van Rusland (in Dutch)
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muir, Dick 1965 births Living people South African rugby union players South Africa international rugby union players Sharks (Currie Cup) players Western Province (rugby union) players Stormers players South Africa international rugby sevens players Rugby union centres Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union players from KwaZulu-Natal Russia national rugby union team coaches Netherlands national rugby union team coaches Alumni of Queen's College Boys' High School Sharks (rugby union) coaches Expatriate sports coaches South African rugby union coaches South African expatriate sportspeople in Russia South African expatriate sportspeople in Wales South African expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands

Playing career

Test history

Coaching career

See also

References