From Pau to Singapore
consider a shift back Down Under.
‘‘The idea of going back to
New Zealand, no, it was never one that jumped out to me. And, given as well, how hard was it for a guy like Warren Gatland to get a coaching job?
‘‘With everything he has done, and won, and everything else. You sort of think ‘there is probably not much of a window of opportunity’.
‘‘So we will just keep tracking along with what we are doing.’’
He’s got plenty to do when Singapore gets on top of the pandemic. In the future there are games to be played against Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea and Hong Kong, and as part of his brief he’s tasked with mentoring local coaches.
The men’s competition comprises between 700-750 players, spread between nine clubs; a revamp of the structure, paring it back back to a six-team format is part of the plan.
Schoolboy rugby is big in Singapore, Mannix says a lot of money is poured into it and the facilities are excellent, but compulsory national service for two years from the age of 18 is problematic.
A wave of talented players leave school and are lost to the game.
‘‘So there is a huge drop-off. If 20 percent of the people who played first XV rugby at school went on to play after national service or during studies, I would be amazed.
‘‘It is just a major reality of Singapore rugby.’’
The military in Singapore, unlike other countries, no longer have rugby programmes and Mannix hopes they adopt the sport – whether it be 15s, 10s or sevens. Anything to keep athletes in the code.
At Pau, Mannix had little time to be idle; when he wasn’t previewing and reviewing the 32 games a season there was the recruitment side of it, dealing with agents and forming a fresh squad for the next pre-season camp.
Now, in Singapore, he’s dealing with committees and meeting with members of the rugby community outside of their business hours.
‘‘These are things I have never been confronted with in my coaching career. Because it has always been in professional clubs, but when I hark back to when I started playing outside of school in 1990 – training under spotlights and people not able to make it because of work.
‘‘The same kind of constraints are there.’’