The overnight rise of a few head coaches from school rugby to Currie Cup has been quite amazing. Brad MacLeod-Henderson, Rory Duncan and Brent Janse van Rensburg all achieved this pro rugby rank in less than a year after moving out of school rugby. Brad MacLeod-Henderson
Back in 2013, Old Hiltonian Brad MacLeod-Henderson, who had prior coaching experience, went from moderately successful two-years in charge school rugby head coach at Hilton College to a Currie Cup winning head coach with the Sharks in the space of four months, which put it anyway you like was a phenomenal achievement. However MacLeod-Henderson didn’t get as much praise for helping to win the title as one might have expected. A lot of the public attention focused on the input of Monnas old boy Brendan Venter who was believed to be the brains behind the victorious campaign. The Shark’s 2014 Currie Cup season which again featured MacLeod-Henderson as head coach didn’t go according to plan and when the 2015 Super Rugby season flopped, it seemed inevitable that a few changes were going to be made. The Sharks plans obviously didn’t suit MacLeod-Henderson and so after just two years as a full-time pro coach this was the statement from the Sharks this week:
“Brad has been involved with us since 2012 initially with the U21’s before joining the senior side in July 2013. He was assistant coach in our last two Super Rugby campaigns looking after the forwards and breakdown and headed-up the Currie Cup campaigns.
We had offered Brad a role within our new structures but he felt that it was time to move on. After playing for The Sharks in the late 1990 and early 2000, he joined us on the back of a 6 year investment banking career and with a Honours in Economics and his MBA nearly completed.
We take this opportunity to wish him and his family the very best moving forward. “
Rory Duncan
Grey High old boy, Rory Duncan was a pro rugby player just like Brad MacLeod-Henderson had a bit of overseasons experience listed on his CV. Duncan retired as a player in 2011. He was appointed as the Grey High (Port Elizabeth) head coach in 2012 and after two years at the helm, resigned to take up a post at the Free State Rugby Union in November 2013. By the start of the 2014 Currie Cup, he’d already been assigned the role of Free State Cheetahs head coach. A year later and he’s moved up another notch to Director of Rugby at Free State. He vacated the Currie Cup head coach position to make way for former Springbok Franco Smith, the Shimlas Varsity Cup winning coach who as a school boy played for Sand Du Plessis, the Bloemfontein school of another famous Bok flyhalf Morné Steyn. So in just a couple of years, Duncan has made a huge leap up the hierarchy.
Brent Janse van Rensburg
Westerling (Port Elizabeth) old boy, Brent Janse van Rensburg had built up a useful coaching CV prior to taking over as Director of Rugby from Rory Duncan at Grey High early in 2014. Midway through that season he took charge of the school’s 1st XV, helping them to become the only team to beat national number one school Grey College that year. The school rugby season ended in August 2014. By the start of 2015, Janse van Rensburg had tendered his resignation to take up a coaching job in the Golden Lions structures. Basically a month later he was released from his Golden Lions contract to join the EP Kings as Head of Defence and by June 2014, he had been made EP Kings Currie Cup head coach.
@Die Ken: Naas started with a bang at Laerskool Garsfontein as well. Was part of the Beheerliggaam and all. Meetings, gripe sessions, you name it. Him and parents were on first-name terms. Things stayed more or less the same… Until he stepped aside and a sport office was created.
Djou, when is Ludeke starting? ;)
Pote Human was head coach at Garsies and then became head coach of Griquas. But I suppose it is not exactly the same as he was assistant coach of the Bulls before he went to coach in Japan and when he returned he became head coach of Garsies.
Whilst we’re on this topic…Naas was involved at Klofies, but it seems to me he has stepped aside. Does anybody know why?