VIDEO: SARU coaching graduates - where are the women?
It was with much fanfare that the South African Rugby Union announced the graduation of a number of the country's top non-white coaches from an Elite Coaching Programme.
Coaches already involved at Currie Cup and United Rugby Championship level were among the 11 'graduates'.
They were Etienne Fynn (Sharks), David Manuel (Eastern Province), Norman Jordaan (Western Province), Phiwe Nomlomo (Sharks), Jonathan Mokuena (Lions), Wilbur Kraak (Western Province), Joey Mongalo (Sharks), Jason Oliphant (Sharks), Hanyani Shimange (Western Province), Franzel September (Boland) and Labeeb Levy (Western Province).
The graduation ceremony came after an 18-month programme of learning, mentoring, practical sessions and testing.
According to the South African Rugby Union, it was so intense that seven of the original 18 entrants fell by the wayside.
Rassie Erasmus, the SA Director of Rugby, said the graduation it is a tangible reward for a lot of hard work and effort.
He spoke of not having had the 'luxury' of being able to graduate from a coaching programme and having to literally 'learn on the job'.
"You have had a chance to enhance your skills in a way that most other coaches did not have," Erasmus said.
SARU President Mark Alexander said the game can't survive without coaches.
"If we are going to ensure that South Africa remains in the top echelons of the global game, we will need world-class coaches to work with our professional player corps," Alexander said.
He told the graduates that they can impact the South African landscape if they use this opportunity.
"This is where the rubber hits the road," he told them about the start of their new journey.
Joey Mongalo, the Sharks Currie Cup coach and one of the high-profile graduates, said the programme taught him to take an 'honest' look at himself - understanding his strengths and work-ons, those 'blind spots' he may not have been aware of.
"This course has given me an idea of where I can go," he said, adding: "I feel the world is our oyster."
However, the programme has one glaring shortfall, an incompleteness pointed out by Chief Executive Officer Rian Oberholzer - the absence of female graduates.
Oberholzer said the success of this programme - where they identify the top black coaches in South Africa - will be measured by how many of these graduates can coach at the 'highest level'.
(WATCH as South African Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer chats to @king365ed about the lack of female graduates in a recent coaching programme...)
"We will fail if we do not assist you in achieving that goal," Oberholzer told the graduates.
He said that if SARU was to be serious about the game, they must be serious in bringing coaches through the system.
"It is very important for us to see these graduates in senior positions very soon," Oberholzer told @rugby365com in an exclusive interview.
He said that at this stage they are identifying coaches already in the system and giving them the tools to succeed.
However, he said there is a need to expand the programme to women and start bringing high-quality coaches through their ranks.
"We would love to see, at the next intake, a few women coaches as well.
"If we are to be serious about women's rugby, we need to be serious about developing top female coaches as well.
"SA Rugby's position is that the women's Springbok team is the second most important team in our hierarchy, and that makes it so much more important for us to bring top female coaches through this structure and the system."
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