TUKSWOMENSRUGBY PLAYING THE OFFENSE TuksWomensRugby kicks-off 15s program. AUTHOR: VALERIE BELLADONA On Wednesday 10 March TuksWomensRugby had their first 15s training session. TuksRugby has been looking at introducing the 15s code to the ladies for quite some time now and with the number of ladies interested in rugby slowly growing it was decided that the opportunity cannot be missed. ‘Our 7s women’s program is known as one of the best programs in the country and the plan is to maintain that status with our 15s ladies as well’ says TuksWomensRugby program coordinator, Libbie Varsity Cup: The Bubble. Janse van Rensburg. Dabeon Draghoender has taken on the task of the Head Coach and is very excited about his new role. ‘I am up for the challenge and looking forward to AUTHOR: NINA EVANNA the increased number of games and the team is working with the ladies.’ ’The club has some looking stronger than ever. With the rate of talented players and I think with hard work we can With the confirmation of the 2021 Varsity Cup injuries sustained by a team being a huge factor to be a seriously competitive team’, says Draghoender. tournament taking place at our very own consider with this new Varsity Cup setup it will be The first training session focused on the very basics University of Pretoria, preparations are underway up to the coaches to manage their players of ball grip and mastering the still and spin pass. to ensure that the so-called ‘bio-bubble’ is accordingly. UP-Tuks Head Coach, Nico Luus, With the upcoming Women’s Rugby World Cup the executed efficiently. The idea is to contain the believes the team has considered every club hopes to attract additional players with the controllable variable in their preparations for the hype created around the event. TuksRugby Head of spread of the COVID-19 virus and allow the athletes to compete in a safe environment. All tournament. Program, Conrad Boshoff, has been backing the With the kick-off of the tournament only a few development of the women’s program from the start games will take place either at the Hillcrest Sports and wants the club to take their ladies to the next Campus rugby fields or at Loftus. The Varsity days away, the pressure is slowly starting to build. level. ‘This program will help to grow and Cup teams will enter the bubble for 10 days at a UP-Tuks will kick-off their first game against strengthen not only our own 7s program but also the time, during which they will play 3 games. Prior Wits on Sunday 4 April. Good luck to all players Blue Bulls Union and even the Women to entering the bubble all team players and and coaches, and BRING HOME THE Springboks’, stated Boshoff. He adds that the management staff must undergo Covid-19 testing SILVERWEAR!! stigma around women’s rugby needs to change and and once they are in the bubble they will not be our 7s team has already begun to achieve that. He is allowed to leave. All teams will stay at the HPC excited for the possibilities of new sponsors coming on board to help support this initiative and hopes or Future Africa where they will have controlled that TuksRugby can do the ladies justice in this new access to the rugby fields for training sessions. venture. This is a first time experience for most of the Any players interested in joining the 15s training players and it is going to be interesting to see how can contact Libbie Janse van Rensburg for further the different teams adapt to the bubble and the information. physical requirements of having to play 3 [email protected] competitive games in such a short time. Our own UP-Tuks team has adjusted their trainings to accommodate for IN THIS ISSUE COACHES CORNER: GILBERT GAZETTE PLAYER IN FOCUS: REGHARDT BOTHA MIHLALI STAMPER PAGE 1 2021 / / APRIL / / 005 KEYWORD OTHER NEWS GILBERT GAZETTE Coaches Corner The Most Glorious 80 Reghardt Botha minutes for TuksRugby AUTHOR: MORRIS GILBERT AUTHOR: MORRIS GILBERT If you want to get Reghardt Botha passionate and When I recently watched Jono Ross captaining excited, ask him to talk about forward play. the Sales Sharks in an English Premiership The UP-Tuks Varsity Cup forward coach loves match, my mind flashed back to one of the most to talk about line-outs, scrums and rolling mauls glorious 80 minutes in the history of TuksRugby. as these are the fields of his expertise. It was in the 2013 Varsity Cup final that Jono Before joining UP-Tuks in this capacity, he had captained UP-Tuks to a record-breaking win of a highly successful run as head coach of 44-5 against Maties in the Danie Craven Stadium, Brakpan. to this date one of the experiences very few “At Brakpan I was fortunate to work with players Maties or their supporters like to revisit. who were talented and most of them serious What made this win so incredibly special, was the about their rugby. This winning attitude many of fact that Maties were the overwhelming favorites. them had, had to do with the fact that they were Not only were they the only unbeaten team in the former students at Varsity Cup universities competition, winning all their pool stage matches where they were taught to function in a and beating the Madibaz in the semi-final. professional rugby environment. UP-Tuks however, lost three of their seven pool As such the shift from an open club to a matches and trailed Maties by 11 points on the university one was not as challenging as one final log. The so-called experts predicted that it would expect, but “at Tuks I work with young, was not a question of Maties winning the final, but just by what margin. What they clearly did committed players who see rugby as a potential UP-Tuks skills coach, Dabeon not take into account, was the form UP-Tuks career. At Brakpan I had to deal with some Draghoender older players who played rugby just to get away showed in their resounding semi-final win from home! It took some fine-tuning for me to against UJ (61-24) and the fact that Maties feel comfortable and enabled in this new scraped through against NMMU (16-15) in the environment.” other play-off. “What made it so much easier for me to make Before departing for the match venue the then this transition is the support and guidance of UP-Tuks head coach, Nollis Marais, left his team Nico (Luus, head coach) who allows me the with these inspiring words: “No one out there freedom to just concentrate on my specific role gives us a chance to win today. Only you can in the coaching team.” prove them wrong. Go and make history.” Reghardt's biggest attributes as a coach are to And history UP-Tuks made as everything went quickly sum up the competition and not be afraid their way from start to right to finish. They of making the necessary adjustments or changes. simply demolished Maties. In fact, the partisan The perfection of line-outs and rolling mauls are 20 000 strong home crowd started leaving the the favorite part of his job. stadium long before the final whistle went. Reghardt does not coach to just win trophies as Reghardt Botha holding the Carlton Cup “they gather dust. I need to make a difference in trophy the lives of the players entrusted to me.” TuksRugby hosted the first of their 4 part youth with their catching and passing skills and he was TuksRugby Development skills development series on Saturday 27 March. joined by Rudi Dames, the teams back-line coach and The clinic is aimed at developing the core rugby Reghardt Botha, the teams forwards coach. John Youth Clinic skills which includes ball security, evasive skills, Laffnie, the Varsity Cup team’s culture coach, was kicking tactics and ball familiarity. Age groups also present at the clinic and he made a few exercises ranged from under 8 to under 13 for both boys and slightly more challenging by introducing tennis balls. girls. The inclusion of girls in this clinic series is The kicking tactics portion of the clinic was taken by very exciting, said Libbie Janse v Rensburg, the Young Guns Head coach, Kennedy Tsimba. TuksWomensRugby Program coordinator, ‘if we ‘I think the clinic was a success and I could see that the can get more girls involved at a younger age it kids were hungry for some rugby,’ said Draghoender. will be very beneficial to women’s rugby in the The next clinic will unfortunately only be able to take country as a whole.’ place after the conclusion of the Varsity Cup The clinic was run by Dabeon Draghoender, with tournament but exact dates will be posted in due time. special appearances by the Varsity Cup coaches. For more information on the development clinic series It was evident by the young player’s reactions that contact Dabeon Draghoender on they were in awe of the ‘Big team’ coaches as one [email protected] of the players called them. Varsity Cup Head Coach, Nico Luus assisted the young players COMING UP PLAYER IN FOCUS: THE REAL MVP’S GET INVOLVED AT MIHLALI STAMPER TUKSRUGBY PAGE 2 2021 / / APRIL / / 005 KEYWORD FNB UP-TUKS FLY-HALF Player in Focus: Mihlali Stamper AUTHOR: MARGO MEYER this season and ultimately win the Varsity Cup before he leaves Tuks. “We as a team Mihlali Stamper was brought up in the beautiful have worked really hard preparing for the small town of Qonce, formerly known as King Varsity Cup this year, a lot of effort has Williams town in the Eastern Cape.