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The Vodacom Bulls will be announcing parts of our turnaround strategy this evening at 19:00. Please follow LIVE on our FB page. #BullsFamily — Official Blue Bulls (@BlueBullsRugby) May 25, 2017

Mitchell is staying in his USA role until the beginning of July, USA Rugby confirmed in an email.

The Americans face Ireland and Georgia before their two-match RWC qualification series vs. Canada June 24 and July 1.

“I was brought in by previous USA Rugby CEO Nigel Melville for my expertise on creating a winning approach to the modern game,” Mitchell said in a statement. “He felt that the development of the game within the USA would benefit tremendously if the men’s XVs side was highly competitive. This is what I have achieved.

“I would like to thank USA Rugby, World Rugby, and all the players and staff that I have been associated with on my watch. It has been a huge privilege to play a major part in USA Eagles history and be associated with the development of young American men living a dream playing and coaching for their country and developing a sustainable High Performance model that someone else can now lead and evolve.”

In an apparent effort to swat away doubts about his commitment to the American RWC qualification campaign over the next month, Mitchell added: “I am a professional and I expect others around me to respect this while in this transition. My eyes will be on the plan for every minute as we cannot waste one of them to ensure we present ourselves the opportunity of making a lot of people happy.”

The winner of the Canada versus USA series will go straight to RWC 2019 as Americas 1, in a group with England, France, Argentina and Oceania 2, which is likely to be Samoa or Fiji. Hello pool of death.