Slaptjips 'excited' by Namibian job
Former Bulls backline coach Pieter Rossouw says he is "very excited" about the prospect of working with the Namibian national team at the World Cup in England.
The Namibian Rugby Union confirmed on Monday that Rossouw has been appointed as backline coach for the Namibian national side for World Cup 2015.
The appointment to Namibia's World Cup coaching staff is the result of a long standing relationship between the NRU and the Blue Bulls Company .
"I have a big passion for Namibia, the people of Namibia, I know many of the players and coaching staff and see this as a big but exciting challenge. A New chapter in my rugby career," said Rossouw, affectionately known as Slaptjips - because of his gangly running style during his playing days.
Rossouw's contract with the Blue Bulls Company comes to an end in October, but according to the former Springbok the BBM were very accommodating in allowing him to be involved with the Namibian national team and he thanked the BBM for the opportunity.
"The Bulls were very supportive of this move and without their co-operation it would not have possible for me to join Namibia."
The 43-Test Springbok veteran said he was hugely excited about the backline talent available to Namibia.
"There are very talented players in the squad, the challenge is to get them on a level where they can compete at the same intensity as our opponents at the World Cup," said Rossouw.
Rossouw said he shared in Namibia's goal of winning their first match ever at the World Cup.
"I have already spoken to the new head Coach Phil Davies and we think very much along the same lines and I look forward to working with Phil."
Rossouw will join the Namibian national squad in Windhoek on Sunday, ahead of the start of the series with Russia.
The two Test matches against Russia will be played at the Hage Geingob Stadium in Windhoek on July 11 and 18.
* Meanwhile the Namibia Rugby Union reacted to the public outburst of former coach Danie Vermeulen.
NRU CEO Sybrand de Beer decided to respond to allegations made by Vermeulen, following his resignation last week.
Vermeulen's resignation was accepted and the NRU decided to move on to ensure that the campaign for the 2015 World Cup remained on course.
"The NRU did not want to get involved in any public debates, but the one sided and at times subjective allegations published in the printed and social media has left me with no other option but to put the situation into perspective," said De Beer.
De Beer stated on Sunday that no other coach before Danie Vermeulen had received as much support in terms of financial and human resources to qualify and prepare for a World Cup.
Since 2012, the NRU Board came under pressure on more than one occasion to replace Vermeulen, but the current members of the Board stood by him and refused to bow to the pressure.
Very recently some of the board members who resigned last month again called for Vermeulen to be sacked but the President, Bradley Basson, was adamant that it would not happen and that Vermeulen's contract and obligations would run through to the end of the World Cup.
"The NRU in fact went to extreme lengths to ensure that Vermeulen would be accommodated at the World Cup," De Beer said.
"With the support of the organisers we ensured that he would have access to the coaching boxes, dressing rooms, hotels and transport. The NRU is well aware of the efforts by World Cup Limited to ensure Vermeulen would be comfortable at the tournament and with this as background it makes no sense to suggest that the Union put pressure on him to resign," added De Beer.
"We did however have in place a contingency plan to ensure the team's preparations and the campaign would not be derailed.
"Former Welsh captain Phil Davies was appointed as technical advisor in October 2014 and acted as mentor to Vermeulen.
"Davies has built up a very good relationship with players and the management team. The processes, game plans, practise sessions were done by Phil and Vermeulen together and it only made sense that Phil take over from Danie. We are 100 percent confident that the team's preparations and the World Cup Campaign will not be affected by the resignation of Vermeulen.
"We now have two important matches against Russia to focus on, followed by the Africa Cup fixtures against Kenya and Zimbabwe. Namibia Rugby remains on course to make the 2015 World Cup a successful one."
The appointment of Phil Davies as Technical advisor as well as that of Wayne Proctor as Strength and Conditioning coach was based on ensuring a post-World Cup legacy in Namibia.
"We have already started putting measures in place to ensure a legacy program post World Cup 2015. With this in mind John Williams was appointed as General Manager: Rugby.
"Davies has already identified a number of projects to ensure the legacy, not only at national level, but also at club and school level, including a national academy. Davies will remain involved with Namibian Rugby after the World Cup to assist the new coach with his integration into the position."
One issue that was identified was the shortage of trained strength and conditioning coaches. The appointed consultants, Wayne Proctor and Ninette Steenkamp, recently conducted Level One Strength and Conditioning courses and another one will be presented next month. The identified candidates will be part of practical sessions with Proctor and Steenkamp in the build-up to the World Cup to ensure Namibia will have home grown and trained Strength and Conditioning coaches ahead of the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
The appointment of a high profile backline coach, Pieter Rossouw, was made with the same capacity building in mind. The former Springbok will work closely with assistant coaches Henry Kemp and Roger Thomson to share his knowledge and experience with them. Sessions will also be arranged at clubs and schools to ensure the wider Namibian rugby fraternity benefits from his involvement.
The employment of foreign coaches and experts is not unique to Namibian rugby. In fact 12 of the 20 participating teams at World Cup 2015 will have foreign nationals as their coaches. It is common practise with Tier Two countries where they don't have huge player numbers and clubs, to appoint coaches from outside because of their experience and exposure to high level rugby on a regular basis.
In the statement the NRU responded to some of the allegations posed in Vermeulen's press release:
* Vermeulen claims that the reasons for his resignation go back as far as the World Cup qualification tournament in 2014 in Madagascar. The NRU finds it a sad state of affairs that Vermeulen only now choose to raise concerns in the manner he did about those issues, almost a year later. The NRU did request players to feature in club rugby and that training sessions were limited to twice a week. One of the reasons we decided to allow players to play club rugby was to ensure that they would be match fit and ready. This was discussed at board level and with the coaching staff. We do not accept that this contributed to the team's defeat against Kenya in Madagascar.
* The NRU refutes the allegation of Board interference and that Vermeulen was forced to select an additional, the " 29th player." One of the team members was based in London and did not require any additional flights. This player was only available for one match and to have completed the tour with 27 players again would not have made sense. This was explained to and discussed with Vermeulen who responded by stating the player could tour but that he would not select him for the test matches. The Board felt that this approach was not in line with the NRU's policy towards developing players.
* After the October/November tour the CEO compiled a tour report based on a players survey. In this report there were no claims of discrimination. The vice-president: rugby compiled a debriefing report which was submitted to the board, in this report mention was made of the discrimination charges against Vermeulen. The report was not accepted by the board as an official report and it was withdrawn by the person who compiled it. The board could therefore not provide this report to anyone and because the report was withdrawn the NRU felt it was not necessary to take it any further. The board did however decide to appoint world renowned sports psychologist Dr. Henning Gericke who has since worked with the players and management with great success.
* The decision to ask Vermeulen NOT to coach the Welwitschias during the Vodacom Cup, was discussed with Vermeulen and he agreed that it would be a good idea. This afforded him the opportunity the monitor all the professional as well as Vodacom Cup players to allow him to have a clear idea of the players he wanted to select for the Nations Cup. The agreement that he would remain involved with the Vodacom Cup group did not work out as Vermeulen withdrew himself. After the fourth match this was identified as a major problem and he was asked to be involved again and in fact coached the team for their last Vodacom Cup match.
* In January, the NRU President Bradley Basson addressed Vermeulen at the financial planning meeting about the manner in which he (Vermeulen) treated the President and CEO on the October/November tour and on what he had written about them in his tour report. This did damage the relationship between Vermeulen and Basson but it has to be reiterated that Basson supported Vermeulen on numerous occasions thereafter when there were calls for Vermeulen to be sacked.
* In response to Vermeulen's claim that the lack of strength and conditioning resulted in the three defeats at the Nations Cup. Only 50 percent of the team that played in Romania also featured in the Vodacom Cup. The rest were professional players. S & C remains a problem but this is the result of 2-3 years of work, not only five months. Vermeulen was in charge for the past almost 4 years.
* The NRU refutes the claim that the absence of a backline coach resulted in the team's poor performances. Walter Don resigned in September 2014 and the NRU instituted a process to appoint a replacement. The board did decide on a backline coach at its board meeting last week. Vermeulen coached the team on the October/November tour without a specialist backline coach but only now did he identify this as a reason for his resignation.
* The April 2015 email concerning Phil Davies, Wayne Proctor and John Williams, was not sent by mistake to Vermeulen. At the time it was discussed with Vermeulen and he indicated that he understood the context. Again we find it strange that he now raises the issue after it was resolved with him.
* The release of players is not in the hands of the NRU and the requests are sent to the respective unions who in turn send it to the players' clubs, as stipulated by World Rugby. This process takes time but when Vermeulen tendered his resignation, the NRU had drawn up a list of players who were available for the Russian test series. This list could not be submitted to Vermeulen as he had resigned already. For the record the players travel arrangements are in place and we managed to secure the release of 90 percent+ of our players who will assemble in Windhoek form July the third.
* Once were we were informed of the loss of Vermeulen's wheelchair we immediately instituted measures for it to be replaced, we requested a quote from Vermeulen and a week later we received a quote for NAM$100 550. After the NRU was told that the insurance did not cover this we went out of our way to assist Vermeulen and secured an ex gratia amount of NAM$60 000 plus a further NAM$ 19,000, a total of NAM$79 000.00 . Shortly after we offered this to Vermeulen we received his resignation. The wheelchair was not the property of the NRU and not our responsibility to insure as the onus is on the individual to insure personal property. However, as the wheelchair was lost by the airline while Vermeulen was representing the NRU, we went out of our way to accommodate him.
* We strongly refute Vermeulen's claims that the NRU did not appreciate his value as coach and that it left him with no other option but to resign. We feel that is an emotional response and not based on all the facts available. The CEO invited Vermeulen via email, as Vermeulen does not answer the calls of the CEO or board members since his resignation, to meet with him and Basson to discuss his reasons for resigning, which was declined. The CEO also invited Vermeulen to release a joint press release to give the team and players the best chance of results in the upcoming test matches and the World Cup. Vermeulen however replied by stating that his press release will be issued and "good luck with the damage control". We bemoan the fact that Vermeulen placed his allegations in the media in this manner. We wish Vermeulen all the best for his future endeavours and wish the team well in their final preparations prior to the World Cup.