What an eventful year 2013 turned out to be in terms of reporting news mainly about personnel changes in rugby-related posts at KwaZulu-Natal’s leading rugby high schools. So much happened last year. It seems almost impossible for 2014 to be as busy a year in this regard.
| # | NAME | SCHOOL | DETAILS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Malcolm Kennedy | Northwood | Malcolm’s one year only contract as Head of Rugby was not renewed as Northwood seemed to opt for a change in plan with regards to their rugby approach. Given the short amount of time Malcolm had to prove himself, he really went all out to make an impact and if ever there was a right method to go about boosting a school’s rugby overnight, he followed to the tee. |
| 2 | Brian Gow | Northwood | One of those sad events of the year, the likeable and respected Director of Sport at Northwood who is 60+ was retrenched towards the end of 2013. |
| 3 | Simon Vickers | Northwood | Northwood has been on a rollercoaster ride over from 2012 to 2013. The one constant in personnel has been the highly motivated Simon Vickers. He went from Head of Rugby, working alongside legend Barry Wilson to almost being shown the door at the end of 2012. Simon then was assigned to the position of Conditioning Coach for 2013. Towards the end of the season he received an SOS to take control of the underachieving NW u16A team and rewarded new headmaster Paul McAvoy’s confidence shown by delivering a win against Glenwood, his second major win against the Green Machine in 3 seasons. In 2014, Simon will be Grant Bashford’s assistant. |
| 4 | Donald Ngwenga | Northwood | The Sharks Development coach and DRSU coach was roped in to take charge of NW when Swys suddenly pulled out and moved to the Lions. It turned out to be a tricky season for Donald, another likeable coach. He struggled to get the best out of his players and did not produce the results. It was not that big of a surprise that once the school decided on a change in rugby direction, his short-term contract was also not renewed. |
| 5 | Grant Bashford | Northwood | Bashie will take charge of NW in 2014. The former Sharks assistant coach didn’t part ways with the rugby union under the best of circumstances so Grant has a bit to prove as far as coaching prowess goes. There is optimism about his NW appointment though and the general feeling is “right man for the job” |
| 6 | Brad MacLoed-Henderson | Hilton | Quite possibly the biggest KZN school rugby coaching story of the year. The highlight of Old Hiltonian Brad’s year should have been delivering a much sort after “double” against main rivals Michaelhouse. A year early rumours were doing the rounds that a hefty bonus was build into Brad’s contact if he could win both the home and away legs of the great private school derby. Anyway the SBR successes ended up paling in comparison to his Currie Cup winning achievement as Sharks Head Coach just a few months later. |
| 7 | AC Blume | Hilton | The Hilton head coaching job had been regarded as the most financially lucrative position in SBR so a lot of people expected a big name high profile coach to be named in place of Brad McLeod-Henderson. For most enthusiasts the thought never crossed their minds that Hilton would go back to tradition and show faith in one of their own teachers. But good on the decision-makers for doing this. AC Blume is an Afrikaans teacher and an assistant housemaster at the college. |
| 8 | Tony Richter | Hilton | The former Hilton 1st XV coach and KZN u18 coach is currently the school’s Director of Rugby and was recently voted on as a KZN school rugby Executive Committee member, replacing Kearsney’s Kevin Smith. |
| 9 | Michael Schwartz | Michaelhouse | Following the enomous success of 2012, 2013 proved to be a really tough year for 1st XV head coach Michael with House struggling and losing both home and away against Hilton. However as far as teaching is concerned he did earn a noteworthy promotion to Senior Master: Academics. |
| 10 | Barend Steyn | Kearsney | In a manner fitting to his humble nature Director of Rugby quietly and out of his own free will, stepped aside as Head Coach (after 13 seasons in charge) at the end of the year to make way for his assistant Francois Lubbe to move into the pound seat. Barend will stay on as assistant coach in the interim and will be the KZN Craven Week Head Coach for the 4th year running. |
| 11 | Francois Lubbe | Kearsney | Will take charge of the Kearsney 1st XV in 2014. Also appointed as the KZN Grant Khomo u16 Head Coach for 2014. Did duty as the KZN u18 Sevens Assistant Coach in 2013 |
| 12 | Kevin Smith | Kearsney | The former Kearsney 1st XV Head Coach for 10 seasons, successful KZN Craven Week coach, KZN School Rugby Executive member and SA Schools selector retired as a Kearsney teacher at the end of 2013 and relinquished his existing rugby positions. |
| 13 | Sean Erasmus | Glenwood | One of the bombshell stories of 2013, arguably KZN’s best known coach who has enjoyed his fair share of success while heading up Glelnwood rugby, accepted the job to coach Paarl Boys High School. |
| 14 | Rudi Dames | Glenwood | The Glenwood Assistant Coach of 8 seasons under both Sean Erasmus and legend Toppy Hortop before that was named as the new Glenwood 1st XV Head Coach for 2014. |
| 15 | Tony Pinheiro | Glenwood | The KZN Craven Week Selectors Committee was increased from 8 members to 9 and it came as a bit of a surprise when the Glenwood Deputy Headmaster who appeared to have no 1st XV coaching involvement received the thumbs up for the position. |
| 16 | Ryan Strudwick | Maritzburg College | Following a difficult 150th year season for College, Ryan will probably start 2014 as the coach under the most pressure to deliver. He will also be working with his strongest group since joining College and taking charge of the 1st XV in 2012. |
| 17 | Kevin Smith | Maritzburg College | Ahead of their 150th year celebrations, College were without a 1st XV assistant coach for a number of months. Kevin, a 100% committed to the cause MCOB with extensive coaching experience was roped in at the eleventh hour to assist Ryan Strudwick during 2013. He brings much experience and stability to the 2014 campaign and no doubt the preseason preparations will go a lot smoother than in 2013. |
| 18 | Piet Snyman | Maritzburg College | The former College 1st XV coach and assistant coach, surprisingly relinquished his position as a Grant Khomo selector for 2014. |
| 19 | Grant Bell | Westville | In the end 2013 proved to be a very good year for Grant. Apart from getting his WBHS 1st to click, he tasted unbeaten success at Grant Khomo Week 2013. |
| 20 | Jan van Straaten | Port Natal | Loyal White Knights coach Jan seriously considered stepping down at the end of the 2013 season to spend more time with his young family. Porties can be grateful he reconsidered. Along the way Porties were runnersup in the Damelin Night Series and went on to win a Seven’s tournament outgunning some formidable KZN Tier-1 opponents along the way. |
| 21 | Antonie Prinsloo | George Campbell | As far as KZN Tier-1 is concerned, Antonie is now officially the longest serving 1st XV coach having taken the reigns in 2009, making 2014 his 5th season in charge. |
| 22 | Noel Ingle | George Campbell | Noel was the Campbell head coach for 22 years before. Now Chairman of the KZN High School Rugby Association, he has had to deal with a number of very serious issues in the past couple of seasons alone. He was recently elected to the SA Schools Committee as a Vice-Chairman. |
| 23 | Deon Gericke | St Charles | Former DHS Head Coach Deon, now with St Charles was appointed to replace Sean Erasmus as the Craven Week assistant coach for 2014, where he will in all likelihood take charge of the pack. |
| 24 | Christo Wilkinson | DHS | 2013 was difficult first year in charge of the DHS 1st XV for Christo who build his reputation as School’s successful under-16A coach and as Sarel Cilliers’ (Glencoe) stand out 1st XV head coach before that. |
| 25 | Dru Nass | DHS | After just a few months in the job of Head of Rugby, Dru who joined DHS from Hudson Park, resigned for personal reasons and returned to the Border region where he now works at the primary school of Queen’s College. |
@Gungets Tuft: you are so right. I believe old school has a place in school boy rugby , more than we care to imagine and admit , as for nw knight , if you know who he is and the events of late 2012 , you will find much on what transpired was to assist him personally both in career financially and very close interests in the teams of the year.
I mentioned it then , and this was the reason barry and simon where side barred , any school that has barry will benefit no doubt
But the damage done will take a while to fix, I expect that the same influences are being exerted here now by the same person but from a differnt space , and hence why you say rumours exist
@Green Hopper: Ja, it wasn’t a competition to be right, just opinions.
I don’t know how often NW-Knight sat down on the stands during rugby matches and just listened. I had to, the Jubilee Room is no longer available to me
I can’t speak for the backroom chat and strategy, I can relate what was said to me on the stands, and I know you can only swim against the tide of parents for so long before you run out of steam. NWK says I was listening to the wrong people, maybe he’s right, but the parents I spoke to cared enough to come out, sit on the bleachers in the sun, so they obviously have some loyalty to the school.
As for Barry – and I don’t know him, he wouldn’t know me from a bar of soap – I think he is one of the most under-rated schoolboy coaches out there. His one “fault” would be principle, so perhaps he is just too Old School.
Simon – is going to turn out one of the best conditioned squads around. They are not going to die wondering if they were fit enough.
Bash – enough said already, he just needs to be left alone to get on with it. Whispers are that this might not happen.
Let’s just hope the results follow and the okes on the stands keep pitching up, it makes a huge difference to have a big home crowd.
@Gungets Tuft: i think you have had the better of North wood night , you have the better perspective , it was this “lack” which lead Northwood down the road it went last year when Barry Wilson was dumped, and NW Knight knows exactly all about this.
North wood and the Director of Rugby at the time, took the shot gun approach without due process or thought, just as you point out the Marne issue hurt GW and 2013 saw this to some degree, I think this might be some of the reason SE took the jump before he was pushed, he can see the damage of this and the ripple effect it will have.
The GW program started in 2000 2001 and really reached its peak in 2008, look at what the team did that year, but this was SE and his doing this was a vision and a period of change. NW tried to fast track this and do it in one year,
At the beginning of 2012 I had the opportunity to see Barry and Simon at Work, and I look at the level of the team, some of the players I know , and they were from 2011 , really on the right track,
Just at that Time we have the 2013 Director jump in for all the wrong reasons and the damage took them back 4 years.
This is all fiction, just look at the results it all speaks for its self, in my opinion NW where really close at the end of 2012 before all the interference and all bloggers can track what I was blogging at that time , warning of the damage , I can’t see North Wood Knight denying what I noted then being transformed ,
@NW_Knight: I don’t believe that kids who think “you just need to be in a certain place for long enough and you will achieve your goals” have the drive and determination to play 1st Tier school 1st Fifteen teams.
You give these guys too little credit, they undertand much, much more than you think. The kid that is not good enough knows this, so when someone comes in at the start of grade 11, he has no issue. If he is ever going to be good enough he gets his head down, works harder, and makes the new arrival work for his spot. He takes it as a challenge, not a terminal setback. I saw that last year at Northwood, where your 2nd team guys still played their guts out. That’s not where my issue is with late recruitment.
Let’s look at an example (sorry Grassy .. but it has to be Glenwood and Marne). Glenwood were very successful before Marne arrived. They didn’t have a weakness to fill. The new arrival did not make them stronger, you could even argue that it did the opposite. Now it does not look as if Glenwood recruitment has suffered long term damage, but do something like that 5 years in a row, then see what it does to your reputation.
And I do believe that the poaching we see is new(ish). It started with the post-matric era, then when that was outlawed schools just adjusted their aim to schoolgoing age. Being persuaded to go to a school is completely normal, but I don’t remember boys leaving one school for another late in their school life, certainly not in PMB. Happy to be proved wrong in that.
@Gungets Tuft: I agree with some of your sentiments, but I wasn’t talking about “an entire board”. It could be 1 or 5 or 10 – if there are glaring weaknesses in the team, fill them. Companies like Apple didn’t get strong by keeping and nurturing the weak leadership – they replaced them en masse and new talent poured in.
I also don’t believe that the “Poaching”problem is new to this era. It is just far more prevalent now due to easy flights, communications, TV games etc. In our day, you had to attend a school game to see it. Easter festivals were non-existent and there was no TV. But boys from neighboring schools were still “persuaded” to come to your school by teachers and coaches, if they could (certainly in JHB, where I grew up).
The same boys who are taught that you just need to be in a certain place for long enough and you will achieve your goals, are tomorrows leaders.
@NW_Knight: My 2c worth, you have one thing right, the best person for the job. However …
How long do you think a company will survive if they do nothing to develop their internal staff, add skills and competencies, and grow them into positions of more responsibility and bigger benefits. Not very long.
Schools – exactly the same. The main job of the school, along with the parents naturally, is to grow kids. Would a school go out at the beginning of Grade 12 and poach the top academics in the province to ensure that they made the papers at matric results time?
If not, why do it with rugby (sport in general). Absolutely companies try and hire the best out of varsity, those whom they feel can grow into management and leadership positions, and with the skills required to make the company stronger. So schools do that at Grade 8 (where they can – given government policy), and then nurture that potential. If they see gaps in their recruitment along the way, then fill those gaps. But go out and buy an entire Board for a company and see how quickly your top talent leaves, and you struggle to get new graduates to interview.
Only choose a captain from Grade 12 – you have a point there, for sure. It’s a hierarchy thing, it’s a weakness on the field I think, but there is a bigger picture off the field, in the school. I have no solution to offer …
@Grasshopper: Yep, TWT. On a different note, @Gungets_Tuft got me thinking with his comment about “imports”. My way of thinking is that the 1st team of any sport must be made up of the best players in your school or whatever institution you are in. So, a school should choose the best 15 players that fulfill the age requirements IRRESPECTIVE of how long they’ve been at the school.
Following on from the numerous comments on ” imports” in Gr10 or Gr11, my thinking would be:
If “Player A” has been playing “A” team rugby in Gr8, Gr9 and even Gr10 or Gr11, he would have a reasonable expectation that he would be able to make the 1st side. If “Player B” has to join the school in Gr11 for some reason (and let’s exclude being approached by the school in question for the moment) and he is the best player in the position, surely he should play 1st team.
Unfortunately, this is how life works when you leave school – Varsity’s don’t choose you because you’ve been there the longest, employers don’t promote people because they’ve been there the longest and all of these would have no hesitation in recruiting if it served the purpose – nobody recruits people of the same level they already have (unless they are at the top of their field).
So what are we teaching our boys when we complain because Player B has just arrived and now he’s in the 1st team and your son has been there for 4 years and he has to play 2nd’s.
Similarly, it seems to be that most schools will only choose their captain from Gr12’s. Why??? It should be the best person for the job. Food for thought….
@NW_Knight: I think all the schools had good intakes, time will tell which were best. Seems Westville managed to entice a few good swimmers again…
@Gungets: As I said, whoever you’re talking to is ill-informed . 1st team segregation – not really, as everyone trained as a squad. One of the parents paid for a couple of team dinners and a training weekend.
As far as I know (and I’m fairly informed), Northwood had a really good intake this year.
@NW_Knight: My info comes from parents at the school (not just one) that felt that the imports of players had a longer term effect that the school will feel in the next couple of years. I know that other schools, including College, had record applications from Durban North, something that had declined somewhat after the efforts by the Northwood governing body from 2009. Takes very little to destroy confidence.
The other thing they mentioned was the segregation of the 1st side, stories of expensive team building exercises, billeting in guest houses before games, etc?
If it’s not true, fine, but perception is reality, and the numbers of Northlands, Chelsea and other Durban north schoolkids crossing the river is up – that’s got to be a worry for the school.
They are still my 2nd school, that’s why I am interested. Good luck, definitely hope you knock over a few Gauties, and leave that latent A-Game at home when you play College (but feel free to tie the dog loose when you head across the river and to the leafy suburbs
8) ) 
@NW_Knight: Good, we need them to surprise the Gauteng opposition to ensure we win the Grogper :-)
@Gungets: Bashie will do well this year, thanks to the efforts of those involved last year and his coaching ability. Simply put – without the boys that joined last year, Northwood would have been taking 100 points from virtually every team.
The “vested interests”as you call them, were the ones that put things back on track. They plowed money and time into trying to ensure that Northwood rugby would begin a revival. NONE had any input into team selection whatsoever – only the coach decided. But for a couple of unfortunate injuries and coaching changes, they would probably have had their best season ever.
“Dodgy politics” – yet again, I would say you’re ill-informed.
But that’s history – I believe that Bashie will get the best out of the 1st team and they may surprise some.
And another thought – I think that Northwood are stark staring mad to have dumped Brian Gow. Living over the road from Northwood I have seen the impact of his efforts to get the boys back in line. He was always at the front gate, or outside the school, jacking the kids up, getting them to put on blazers, tidy up their appearance, behave properly. I think they underestimated the impact he had throughout the school, discipline wise. Bad move, but perhaps he was a victim of the dodgy politics last year, someone didn’t think that through. And if I am not mistaken he and Bashie go way back, so the possibility of good teamwork also scuppered daarso.
@star: Might be the crazy 2014 term schedules, fewer weekends, an Westville don’t play term 3. I believe College are playing them on a Friday before a long weekend, they were not on the first draft, got fitted in.
@ Gungets- unfortunately at this stage it won’t include a Westville game( ” will give all the KZN rivals a run for their money”). It seems crazy that 2 old rivals will not be playing this year. Cannot for the life of me fathom the reason.
@Green Hopper: It’s all speculation and we will quickly see the results. Coaching is a bit of a “pie in the face” business, success is on the scoreboard.
But, if I were to answer your questions from where I sit, “did Bash really do that well in his last position” .. ??? .. yes.
Can he come “down” .. truthfully, I think the school 1st team job is tougher, you have to deal directly with the “fans” .. and Bash has the personality to do exactly that, personably oke, and will have an instant rapport with the boys and parents.
He has the basis of a team, Northwood weren’t poor last year, I just think they were disjointed. If Bash can get rid of the vested interests (and some of that seems to have been taken care of already if my sources are to be believed) and have the freedom to do what he believes is right, he will be styling.
Will Northwood have more scoreboard success, not sure – it’s all about relative strength – but I think they will give all the KZN rivals a run for their money and there are some “surprises” in the offing. Northwood will be one of the best conditioned sides in KZN, the schoolboy body will be more behind their team this year, I reckon it’s GAME ON for Northwood. I will certainly make my way across the road whenever I am not at College and support them.
@Gungets Tuft and Grasshopper, wish you guys where right , I said that at the start of last year that the set up for the coming year, 2013, wasnt functional and wouldnt reap the right results.
As good as people thsink Bash is and just becuase he is local, wont make him a great Coach or bring the results , it is way more than these simple things. Question did Bash do really that well in his last position? can he come down to the level of the school boys, We have seen what SE tried to do when he brought across Sharks methods , it didnt work, same here, i do believe that for him to work out results he would need to have three years in the position. SE had teh results of three years of Toppy and others working through the system, same here
@Far Meadows: Thanks and sorry. I must have read that wrong somewhere. Have amended it now.
@Gungets Tuft: Agreed, go Knights! We need a strong Northwood & DHS to then have 6 big competitive schools. Bashford will work some magic. Maybe they can even get Warren Brosnihan in too for some guidance in the forwards.
@Green Hopper: Will disagree with you on the Northwood setup, I think they are going to be chalk and cheese compared to last year. I hope I am right, the school parent body deserves it. Bash is a local boy, going to make good.
Bad Year for Mike , but he has the right aptitude to do well, let’s see what happens with this year
As I said at the beginning of last year , Northwood had the wrong set up and wrong coached , Don’t think the changes made now will improve it much ,
Hi Beet,
I see you mention that Mike Schwartz was relieved of his position as housemaster, this was not the case , I believe he was in fact promoted from being a housemaster to being a senior master. I don’t think that being the 1XV coach had any influence on this .
Cheers.