Human’s a perfect fit, but players must up game
WHILE listening to the radio on Sunday morning, an announcer asked what a guest thought of the weekend’s Super Rugby rugby results. The reply was “let’s not go there”.
What a bad weekend for the South African sides with the Bulls, Lions and Stormers losing and the Cheetahs, well ahead at the break against the Chiefs, having to settle for a draw.
Stormers fans will be particularly upset as their team is nowhere at the moment and their new director of rugby, ex-Springbok Gert Smal, will have decisions to make over their coach Allister Coetzee.
Those rugby fans who were around when Gert was coaching the Border Bulldogs still speak fondly of him as he travelled extensively around the province holding coaching clinics for the many sub-unions and often in freezing winter weather. troubles which beset Border Rugby.
He said: “Around 2pm this afternoon [Saturday] I had the TV on and happened to see that Border were playing Free State. With 25 minutes to go Free State had just scored their 50th point and the Border score was zero. Border Rugby have a serious problem.”
With just a handful of contracted players to call on and the rest drawn from clubs, the Bulldogs certainly have a problem.
And I’m sure coach Andre Human recognises this but his hands are tied in this respect as there’s a big difference between the fitness and strength levels between professional and amateur players.
Several years ago loose-forward Pietie Loots, who was playing club rugby for Cambridge was invited to fitness tests by Bulldogs management and if I remember correctly, he fell far short of the mark as a part-timer.
When offered a contract and able to train three times a day, Pietie excelled and became one of the Bulldogs stars.
Besides, it’s proven a coach needs at least three years to build a winning team so the Bulldogs can only improve over time. Human was only into his first of a three-year contract with a relatively new team when he was sidelined by the Kilian brothers. Let’s hope he’s given a fair deal this time round. The King William’s Town bowling boys are asking whether bowls on the Border ends at Highgate after losing out to East London clubs and not awarded a chance to host a section in the All-Cape Tournament currently being played at all the city clubs.
Originally, clubs within a 80km radius of East London were asked to submit applications. This included country clubs such as King, Kidd’s Beach and Kei Mouth, neither of which made the cut after a great deal of work went into preparing their greens.
Their argument is when playing in Cape Town, teams travel far distances, bumper to bumper, to clubs and the same applies to the Southern Cape area of Plettenberg Bay, George and Knysna.
When travelling to King William’s Town (a double lane highway) or Kei Mouth and Kidd’s Beach, the roads are relatively clear so what’s the problem, they ask.
They also query why some clubs have been awarded two sections which means an extra green which represents an extra 24 teams which represents 96 players which represents impressive revenue from green fees and bar sales.
The reply from the organisers will be, the King boys say, because of the price of petrol. They also say each side only has to travel to the country once and is that too much to ask? So the question remains, does bowls on the Border end at Highgate? Well done to Sri Lanka for at last winning the ICC Twenty20 World Cup. All the smart money was on India but even the experts got it wrong, making me feel a lot better for backing the Aussies and the Proteas.
Something on your mind then e-mail: