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Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
RENOWNED South African schoolboy rugby coach, Greg Miller believes that Zimbabwe is endowed with a lot of incredibly talented youngsters capable of taking the game in the country far if equipped with the necessary skill.
Speaking at the end of the fourth edition of the AMG Global Junior Rugby Coaching Festival at Falcon College last Sunday, Miller, the director of the Durban-based Academy of Rugby was impressed with what he saw in Esigodini over the three days of the festival.
“What has been a stand-out for me is how the boys have improved, I’ve always said there is unbelievable talent, there are natural athletes here. Some incredible athletes in this place and we have to put some skill along with it, I think it bodes well for Zimbabwean rugby,” Miller said.
Miller has come for three of the four editions of the fiesta and his view is that there has been some marked progress displayed by the youngsters.
“It has really stood out for me how from day one to day three there has been such a fantastic improvement, the boys’ skills level has improved, they have stuck in, I’ve seen some great rugby, we’ve had some great games,” he said.
On what needs to be done to make sure that the youngsters do progress in their rugby careers, Miller suggested that the players have to move up the ranks with the same coaches. “For me continuity is important, if you are going to have an Under-9 coach work on something, the next year they go to a different coach and he works on something different.”
There is no continuity through the school. In fact you are teaching boys different skills every year. If you could get a structure through the schools and Zimbabwe rugby that would really help them,’’ he said.
Mille feels that the South Africans are just blessed with size, which allows them to intimidate their challengers on the rugby field while Zimbabweans have the talent, which can see them hold their own against physically superior opponents.
“From a sheer size point of view, the South Africans would probably dominate things, we can get away with our size and bullying guys on the field. We are now starting to add some skill to it, which is good but I would say that there is no doubt in the mind, a number of individuals would hold their own in any game in South Africa.”
Former Springboks hooker, Delarey Du Preez, who made his second consecutive appearance at what is the biggest junior rugby coaching festival in Zimbabwe, was pleased with the strides taken by the Zimbabwean lads.
“We were here last year, we’ve come back this year to see the improvement of the guys, you can clearly see they’ve learnt, they have seen what we do and the skills that they have shown this weekend, you can see they have carried over from last year. Greg Miller has actually identified a couple of players with talent, possibly for scholarships and sponsorships for furthering their rugby careers so yes, very big improvement from what I’ve seen from last year,’’ Du Preez said.
Miller, Du Preez, former Springboks prop Marius Hurter and Currie Cup stalwart Jacques Botes were the South African specialists who took the Zimbabwean youngsters as well as their coaches through drills from 12 to 14 April. The four worked with the local duo of Brendan Dawson and Schalk Ferreira.
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