At the start of December 2012, Steve Botha the 2012 Backline Coach left College to take up a post at the brand new Sharks Academy in the United Arab Emirates. So although it appears as if Head Coach Ryan Strudwick has only been without an assistant for a month now, the truth of the matter is that he has not had any official assistant for a number of months. The reason being: after the end of the 2012 season Botha was reassigned to coach the under-14A age-group and it was clear that he would not play a part in the 1st XV setup for 2013. That makes it +/- 4 months since the position of Assistant (Backline) Coach became vacant. In a further development, it now looks unlikely that an outside appointment will be made to replace Botha who also served as Rugby Administrator at the school. Instead an existing staff member will be elected to be Strudwick’s new assistant. The question that has to be asked is : why the delay then?
College will turn 150 years old this year. They are busy putting a great deal of effort into birthday celebrations preparations which includes hosting two top notch 1st XV school rugby festivals during the season. With all the other careful planning that has gone on, it’s hard to understand why a basic ingredient for success such as having the right coaching structure in place has not featured higher up on their priority list.
Has anybody being appointed yet they leaving it a bit late with there 150 year and all
The whole coach thing this year is going to be interesting wonder what is happening at Dale and Queens they also dont have coaches