Rugby developments at the Last Outpost

South Africa’s rugby franchises, and indeed those on the coast south of Durban, must be more than a little nervous about growing developments in the Last Outpost of the British Empire.

It has been a long time since that famous Natal captain, Tommy Bedford described his province in this manner (in the early ‘70s) because of what he conceived as a parochial bias by the Springbok selectors against the “Souties” from Natal. To make the Boks in those days from the Natal team was almost impossible and although Bedford indeed played for his country, he was not shy to stand up for his teammates that were ignored because Natal was dismissively regarded as a Cinderalla province.

All that changed in the late ‘80s when Ian McIntosh began building his team of the ‘90s and indeed began importing Afrikaner players to the extent that English was surpassed as the “first language” of the team by the time it became known as the Sharks in 1996.

The Sharks were no longer a team with its cap in hands at begging at the high table of South African rugby and led the way into the professional era. The Sharks have had their ups and downs ever since and although they have not won as many trophies they would have liked, they have been in more finals than any of their rivals.

Now the Shark Tank is going through another seismic period of upheaval and the portents are extremely positive that an exciting new era is dawning for the old Last Outpost.

It began some time ago with a shake-up at board level with dynamic businessman Stephen Saad taking over as chairman and Graham MacKenzie, the man who built Rovers into the best club in the country, voted in as president of the KZNRU.

They were responsible for the recruitment of John Smit as CEO in place of the outgoing veteran Brian van Zyl, a thoroughly respected administrator, but Saad and company felt the need for rejuvenation and fresh ideas, which is never a bad thing in the ever-changing world of professional sport.

There was some natural pain when loyal servant John Plumtree was shown the door, but in came the enigmatic but immensely capable Brendan Venter. It does not matter now that he was always only going to be here in the short term because the plan behind the scenes was that a high profile coach would then come in and benefit from the structures Venter had implemented.

Venter has been a revelation with his positive energy and ability to get things done. He, in tandem with Smit, are following the Saracens model where there is a big pool of coaches, each of them an expert in a particular factor of the game. This is the way rugby is going in the professional era and the days of a head coach with two assistants (one for the forwards, one for the backs) are now outdated.

Already there are two new assistants in up-and-comers Brad Macleod-Henderson and Sean Everitt, who have potential and are there to grow and learn as well as impart their own knowledge; a defence coach in James Fleming (from London Irish), successful Bulls age group coach Paul Anthony (from 2014); and a lineout coach in famous Sharks old boy Albert van den Berg.

And now there is Jake White, and if ever there was a coach to take a team into a new era it is the former Springbok and Brumbies coach.

Jake has been around the block several times. They do not come more streetwise than the former Jeppe High school teacher. There is no curve ball that has not been thrown at him. He did the best possible apprenticeship by coaching through the age group ranks, including an IRB championship title win with the Baby Boks, when John Smit was his captain funnily enough.

He served time as a technical assistant with Nick Mallett’s Boks before getting the top job himself. He was given a rough ride by his SARU bosses and infamously was recalled from a Springbok tour of the UK to explain poor results.

He was almost fired when the Boks lost five in a row in 2006. The next year he won the World Cup.

Jake always comes back fighting. It is his way. And with the resources Smit will provide him with at the Sharks, there is every reason to believe that there are more titles in store for their partnership.

By Mike Greenaway