» Gloucester’s new-look squad looking the part Sport
IT is 12 months since Johan Ackermann took up his role as Gloucester head coach full-time. It has been a period of adjustment on and off the pitch, but he feels the lessons earned will will put him and the club in better stead as he looks forward to his second season in charge.
Ackermann has had the benefit of a full pre-season with Gloucester, who are on a training camp in Jersey ahead of their first friendly against Ulster on Saturday.
Last year he only arrived during the club’s pre-season tour to Portugal, having taken the Lions all the way to the Super Rugby final.
Gloucester finished seventh in the Premiership last season, their highest position since 2012-13, and there is plenty of optimism around Kingsholm after some high-profile signings that have seen the 48-year-old shape the squad in more of his own mould.
Reflecting on the first season, Ackermann pinpointed Gloucester’s away record – just three Premiership wins – as a key area to improve.
“I think mentally we must improve,” said Ackermann, the former Springboks lock who won his 13th and final caps for his country at the age of 37.
“What I learned is there is a bit of a challenge for the group to play away.
“We maybe got one or two wins away from home but I don’t think to be competitive it was enough.
“Then again I’ve learned how the logistical side of this tournament works. Sometimes you travel on the day before, sometimes on the day.
“Maybe one or two things we can adjust and tweak.
“Hopefully we’ll make some better choices in those games and as a group perform better under pressure even when it’s away games.”
Ackermann has had to adjust to a longer season in the northern hemisphere with commitments in three competitions, as opposed to the Super Rugby season when there are no other distractions.
His rotation policy last season caused a lot of debate among supporters but it was something he felt was necessary due to the nature of the different competitions, a challenge that will come more into focus in the upcoming season with Glouceter returning to the Heineken Champions Cup.
“The reality of the Premiership is it’s interlinking with other competitions and sometimes you must decide which competition is more important and how can you manage the players,” said Ackermann.
“In Super Rugby it’s a shorter competition where you can play your best side week in week out and here you have to do it over a longer period and it’s just common sense, sometimes you’re going to have to manage some players.
“It takes a lot more planning around that than Super Rugby.
“Here, if you want to play your best players it’s a long time. So how you manage the individual players, there’s a bigger demand on that in the Premiership.” England internationals Danny Cipriani and Matt Banahan have joined Gloucester alongside five South Africans – Jaco Kriel, Franco
Mostert and Ruan Dreyer having previously played under Ackermann at the Lions and Gerbrandt Grobler and Franco Marais joining from Munster and the Sharks respectively.
Asked if the squad now has more of his stamp on it, Ackermann said: “I do believe so.
“The squad was signed with the idea of having players here for a longer time, looking at their age profiles.
“It wasn’t that the players that left weren’t good enough, it’s just a certain age level we looked at and there were some tough decisions on how to manage, how to make everything work so everyone fits into the salary cap.
“It’s a squad that if everyone plays at their best and is fully fit will play to the style and the brand we want to play.”
While things are beginning to take shape on the rugby side of things, Ackermann is also starting to feel more at home off the pitch.
Eldest son Ruan, of course, plays for Gloucester but Ackermann has also been joined by his wife Crystelle, son Tiaan, 20, and daughter Zilce, 17.
“I won’t lie, the first bit was tough, not from a rugby point of view but the fact that I went straight from Super Rugby to coaching (at Gloucester),” said Ackermann.
“The players embraced it, the management made me feel really welcome and the personnel here at Gloucester made me feel welcome.
“It was strange, the fact that it was a big move, leaving a lot of people behind, a lot of friends behind and the change in environment was tough.
“Later on the family came over and they emotionally struggled a little bit about the big change and that put a little bit more pressure on you, which you don’t want to transfer to the players.
“I experienced stuff that I would never have experienced back home, seeing places in Italy and places in France with the Challenge Cup.
“I experienced the Premiership for the first time and then saw the passion of the supporters so I got to know the city a bit better and started to make really good friends outside of rugby at church, through other people that became close friends, inviting us for dinners and getting to know them and the people and they open up their house for us.
“You start to meet more people and my network grew so I can just thank everybody.
“The family has started to settle a little bit more. I think my daughter still struggles a little bit with the friends she left behind but Ruan’s started to find his feet and everyone’s started to feel a little bit more at home.”
Zilce is a talented netball player who played at provincial level in South Africa.
Tiaan, 20, showed promise in rugby at school but “wasn’t blessed with his brother’s size” and is looking to move into the administration side of the game by studying sports business management at Hartpury College.
He is like an extra member of the Gloucester squad as he is often around the players at training and before and after games.
“He’s clever around the game, he sees a lot of good things and understands the game and thinks about the game so sometimes it’s worth listening if you speak to him after a game,” said Ackermann.
“My daughter was a very good netball player in South Africa.
“I’m not sure if she sees it as a thing she could do seriously but she showed a lot of potential in that.”
Ackermann is renowned for building a family culture at clubs but he is grateful for the support he has had from his own family for helping him enjoy success as a player and now a coach.
“Where I’m very privileged is that my wife has supported me throughout my whole career,” said Ackermann.
“Family for me is so important. I’m privileged that I played to a late age and my sons saw me play so that brought us quite close because we debated a lot about games when they were at school and after matches.
“It’s fortunate that the rugby keeps me young so I can spend a lot of time with them off the field socially and enjoy them.”