Blueprint for SA rugby to produce excellent Boks reached at coaching indaba

South African Rugby has taken one step closer to implementing uniform rugby fundamentals after the third coach’s indaba was held in Kempton Park on Wednesday‚ and a draft blueprint presented.

The outcome of the meeting‚ which included coaches from the six Super Rugby franchises and the Springboks‚ was to identify skills that players need to develop to not only become Springboks‚ but to become excellent Springboks.

Improvements in basic skills such as catching and passing and better defence were identified as vital over the course of the three indabas.

But more technical skills such as contact evasion‚ ball retention in both attack and defence and aerial technique were also covered.

Agreement was reached on ways to improve these skills and an approach on how to achieve the intended results.

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In simple terms‚ South Africa’s players need drastic up-skilling‚ a process which should begin at school.

But for fundamental skills have been overlooked for so long in the pursuit of results‚ even at schoolboy level‚ that it is now incumbent on the Super Rugby franchises to take on a more basic coaching role.

The blueprint that was presented will immediately be implemented at Super Rugby level but will eventually filter down to lower levels where the foundation work needs to be done properly.

SA Rugby President‚ Mark Alexander‚ Francois Davids (deputy president) and James Stoffberg (vice-president)‚ joined the coaches at the one-day indaba.

Wednesday’s gathering was a resumption of the coaches’ indaba first held in Cape Town in December last year‚ with the main aim of designing a new direction for Springbok rugby and to address on-field performance by South African teams.

The draft version of the SA Rugby Blueprint was presented at the meeting following the two previous coaches’ gatherings.

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According to some of the outcomes of Wednesday’s meeting‚ the identification and implementation of key rugby fundamentals will be done at franchise and Springbok level and the blueprint will now be shared with all national teams and local franchises.

There is also a much clearer understanding on the resting and playing time of Springboks‚ while a national conditioning strategy will be finalised within the next two weeks.

“We now have the guiding principles of a much-needed blueprint for South African rugby and the draft is the result of excellent collaboration between the local franchise coaches and the Springbok coaching staff‚” Alexander said.

“Cooperation and collective action is key for the implementation and success of this blueprint.

“We are not expecting all our teams to play exactly the same game‚ but it will be good to see our Super Rugby teams use similar fundamentals when it comes to the basics of the game‚ and from there use their own unique style in their gameplans.

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“South African rugby can only prosper if our unions and coaches collaborate with one another in the implementation of our collective plan.

“This blueprint plan does not dictate your provincial or franchise gameplan‚ but it is a necessary strategic framework for our rugby.

“It is my firm belief that the coming together of local coaching experts and their sharing of knowledge‚ added by their desire to improve our game‚ will put the Springboks in a better position in terms of preparation for their June series against France and the rest of the international season.

“Some of the important topics discussed during the three indabas included learnings from the last few seasons‚ player contracting‚ player retention and succession planning as well as the development and retention of local coaches.”

- TMG Digital/TMG Sport