When Durban High School takes on Paarl Boys’ High on Day 3 of the Absa Wildeklawer, a focal point will be the two high profile head coaches. Sandwiched in-between Sean Erasmus’ two spells at Paarl Boys’ High was Peter Engledow’s three year contract.
Peter’s time coincided with Covid and he was unable to secure a fourth year to prove his worth in an unrestricted season. He parted ways with Boishaai and took up the vacancy at DHS ahead of the 2022 season. Here the very relatable former Griquas head coach quickly built on his credentials as a top coach and Director of Rugby. Meanwhile gifted Sean returned to Paarl after a time in pro-rugby to start in 2022 again.
Their records for the past three seasons (2022-2024*) are quite similar.
Engeldow: P42 W29 D1 L12
Erasmus: P45 W32 D1 L12
Coming into the match “School” are on an eight game unbeaten run, having only lost once this year. Boishaai are on an uncharacteristic three-match losing streak, this after winning their first six games of the season.
The two men’s careers connect in another way. When Sean was still a youngster coaching a B-team at local rival school, his post match chat to his team was overheard by Glenwood’s then Mr Rugby, Tony Pinheiro. So impressed by it, Pinheiro paved the way for Sean to join the ambitious Glenwood setup. This turned out to be an important career move as the Escourt High old boy worked his way up to the head coach job there. The selfsame Pinheiro is now the headmaster of DHS.
On a different note Peter also had a unique schoolboy rugby experience at the recent Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival when DHS played Humansdorp’s Nico Malan who are coached by the very enthusiastic Jaco Nepgen. It was a case of former pro-rugby head coach up against his former pro-rugby captain – Jaco had been skipper of the Griquas team.
I have met both of them. SE when he was coach at Glenwood and PE since he has started coaching in Durban. both lovely gentlemen who are a credit to themselves, their schools and the sport!
@Kaya 85 (Comment #7)
My apologies, I misread.
@beet (Comment #2)
I had the privilege to shadow Scott Mathie at one of his coaching sessions at DHS to learn from him. He is the best schoolboy coach I have seen in action.
Also wouldn’t have minded to see what Wessel du Plessis, Sean Erasmus, Slaptjips & BMH coach like.
@Trots HJS (Tandem) (Comment #6)
didn’t say “flaky” … i said “shaky”, i.e. they appeared to be doubting and not confident. Yet they got the W, well done!
@Kaya 85 (Comment #4)
@<a href="http://schoolboyrugby.co.za/
(Comment #4) Boishaai made many mistakes but was not “ flaky” . DHS played very well with a huge and strong pack of forwards and Boishaai defended bravely. Boishaai could not use the wind in the first half and nearly paid the price for it. I am proud of this very young team.
What a ripper! Kon enige kant gegaan het – Mentoor se laaste skop wys BMT.
only saw the last 20 minutes but thoroughly enjoyed the DHS game…HJS’s performance very shaky despite playing against 14 for the last 8. It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen a ref penalise one team so much…penalty count must have been 20 to 1 against DHS.
@beet (Comment #2)
The EG blonde prop looked a massive unit & not fat!
Sandwiched in between Scott and Peter was one Nico le Roux.
Scott was tops. Also very professional in his media approach. I thought he would go far as a pro coach with the Griquas assistant job and subsequent promotion being the start. It seemed like things changed and he then moved to the USA. It seemed like disappearing into obscurity but perhaps the RWC 2031 will elevate rugby in the States.
Yes the EG pack are great. Danre Pike and Duwan Potgieter are top players in the front row and at AWK the loosehead Zian Marais has probably been the pick of the three up front.
Interesting trivia regarding Peter Engledow and the coach of Nico Malan Beet. I imagine the coaching world is quite small and coaches get to know eachother quite well over the years. DHS have been very fortunate to have had Scott Mathie who really started the recovery at DHS in 2016 and had great years in 2017 and 2018 with Sanele Nohamba, Celimpo Gumede and Pepsi Buthelezi all combining their talents to get some memorable wins. When Scott Mathie left for Griquas DHS was fortunate enough to bring in Peter Engledow and the momentum has continued. Best of luck to all the sides today. That EG v Stellenberg game was like a test match. One thing that stood out to me was the workrate of the EG front row. The amount of head on and open field tackles they make is huge. Gone are the days when the only time you see a prop was at scrum time.