Young Coaches Go Head-to-Head in SAA National Club Champs Final

TWO of South Africa’s most promising young coaches will go head to head on Saturday when Pukke meet College Rovers in the final of the 2008 SAA National Club Champs at the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch.

Pukke, coached for the past three seasons by former Leopards and Scotland prop Matt Proudfoot, and Rovers, in their first season under former Sharks and London Irish forward Ryan Strudwick, will clash in a repeat of the 2006 final, won 33-21 by the Potchefstroom students. Interestingly, both coaches are only 35 years old and bring to the table a wealth of playing experience.

Pukke reached the final with a nailbiting 23-20 victory over hosts and defending champions Maties. They will be appearing in their fourth final in seven years and will be aiming for their third title.

College Rovers beat Brakpan 23-15 in the last four and will aim to become only the second KZN team to win the national title, after fellow Durban side Crusaders scored back-to-back titles in 1993 and 1994. Should they win, Rovers will also become the first open club to lift the trophy since Dick Muir led Johannesburg-based Pirates to victory in 2001.

“I think desire got us through our semifinal,” said Proudfoot. “After losing in the semifinal of the Varsity Cup, I just think the guys wanted it a bit more than Maties.”

While Stellenbosch looked off the pace after two easy matches against Raiders and Roses United, Proudfoot said Pukke had benefited from a tough quarterfinal against archrivals the University of Johannesburg. “I believe that match definitely helped. I think you develop bad habits in games that don’t stretch you,” he added.

“The varsities know each other so well, so it was always going to be a tight game, and I just think we were more hungry on the ground and our defence scrambled well.”

Despite the win, Proudfoot said Maties remained the “benchmark” in South African club rugby. “We’ve come a long way in the ten years that the Puk Rugby Institute has been going and if we want to continue growing we have to benchmark ourselves against Maties,” he said. “They were the favourites and that’s a hell of a tag to carry. Now we’ve got to carry it. We’ve got to change from being the underdogs to being the front-runners.”

He said Saturday’s final against Rovers would not be easy. “It’s going to be a tough match. The Sharks are doing amazing things with their club rugby. Two finals in three years means they’re doing something right,” he said. “But I’ve got 25 warriors here who really want it. We didn’t come here with any preconceived ideas and we just focused on what we had to do. If you lift your head to look ahead, you’ll trip over your own feet. We’re wise enough to know that we’ve been here before.”

Strudwick, 35, is in his first full year of coaching after spending eight seasons playing in the UK for London Irish and two years at Irish province Connacht. He is officially Rovers’ player-coach at the Club Champs but said there has been no need for him to play thus far. “I’ve been on standby if necessary but I’ve rather given the young guys a chance and they’ve taken the opportunity with both hands,” he said. “Everyone says I should play in the main game but it’s their time now.”

Strudwick said his coaching career started almost by accident when regular Rovers coach Sean Everitt was seconded to the Sharks. “It was almost a case of being thrown in the deep end,” he said. “I was just going to help the guys out but when Sean got called up I just said I’ll be happy to help out full time.”

Strudwick said his team was excited at the prospect of victory. “We came down here with the goal of winning but we did know it was going to be a bit of a long shot,” he said. “The reasons for our success have been our team spirit, as well as the fact that the backs (fullback Chris Jordaan and centre Riaan Swanepoel) who have come from the Sharks have added a lot to our team.”

Strudwick said that while the side were carrying a lot of niggles after three tough games in five days, there were no major injury concerns. “We had the chance to fly a few guys down but I think we’re going to stick with what we’ve got down here,” he said. “The guys have brought us this far and I feel they can take us all the way.”

Notes:

• The SAA National Club Champs final kicks off at 1pm on Saturday at the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch. The match will be televised on SuperSport at 7pm.
• In the curtain-raiser, Western Province’s SK Walmers will play SWD champions Bridgton in the Plate final. Kick-off is at 11am.
• Boland’s Nova Wesbank club won the Bowl title on Thursday after a 34-22 victory over Barbarians.

SAA National Club Champs finals 1998 – 2008:

2008 Pukke v College Rovers
2007 Maties 24 Tukkies 8
2006 Pukke 33 College Rovers 21
2005 Maties 24 UJ 13
2004 Pukke 41 TUT 10
2003 Tukkies 46 Pukke 25
2002 Shimlas 34 Pukke 26
2001 Pirates 37 Tygerberg 13
2000 Maties 54 Tukkies 37
1999 Shimlas 45 Welkom Rovers 9
1998 Maties 28 RAU 10

- ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN RUGBY UNION