Ken Borland

Changing coaches at the Sharks has become something that is not even triennial these days but a regular occurrence that has seen three different men in charge over the last three years, which is why chief executive John Smit is adamant that Gary Gold is going nowhere and will continue to coach the team in next year’s Super Rugby competition.

After John Plumtree was let go in 2013, Brendan Venter filled in alongside Brad Macleod-Henderson and Sean Everitt for the rest of that year, before Jake White was appointed for 2014. It was a high-profile signing, but it didn’t last the year amid talk of a player rebellion against the former Springbok coach.

“We were thrown a curve-ball with Jake and his exit last October was like a bride being left at the altar. It was uncontrollable and it’s inconsequential who wanted who to leave. We wanted Gary Gold to fulfil the same role as Jake, but he couldn’t get out of his contract and arrived late, with Brenden running the show until then.

“But there’s just been too much change in terms of coaching, so Gary has to continue. I know there’s been media speculation about him no longer coaching, but that’s only for the Currie Cup. Gary will continue to be heavily involved with the Super Rugby squad and will coach them. The other six months of the year, he’ll be involved in planning and procurement and improving the academy. We are busy finalising a coach to replace Brad Macleod-Henderson for the Currie Cup,” Smit told The Citizen.

While Smit wants a more settled atmosphere in terms of the coaching structure, he says the academy and the pipeline delivering talent to the Sharks team needs to be shaken up.

“In terms of the academy, every other union copied us, but it’s without doubt not performing the way we want it too. It’s a work in progress, we need to tweak it, because that’s the only way we’re going to be leaders. There are 200 students at the academy at any one time and the majority pay for that. They think they have what it takes and they share the fields and the gym with the professional squad.

“We pay the fees for those we decide are worth backing, those we’ve identified with talent. The academy also gives us an unbelievably strong club structure because the players are billeted out to the Premier League clubs and some of those guys will graduate into being part of the Currie Cup now,” Smit said.

The former Springbok captain said he was at peace over the recruitment of players even though the Sharks have been severely criticised for signing veterans such as Matt Stevens and Mouritz Botha.

“The criticism is probably well-founded based on the performance, but I played with Matt, he was contracted while he was on a British and Irish Lions tour, which means he was rated amongst the top three tightheads in the UK. But that form didn’t transfer here and he was particularly poor at scrum time, although his work-rate was still far superior to any of the other number threes. But European champions Toulon are still willing to pay him double what we are paying him!

“Mouritz has come in for unnecessary criticism because there are not many hardened number four locks around and he hasn’t performed that badly. The public perception may be very different, but then television influences that a lot.

“I can’t control that, but the ‘jobs-for-mates’ thing people are so fond of writing about is nonsense. I don’t pick players on my own, it’s decided by a procurement committee, Smit said.

Sharks scrumhalf Cobus Reinach has scored some tremendous individual tries in the last year, but the newest member of the Springbok squad is adamant that those are not planned and he has just had the good fortune of being in the right place at the right time.

“The tries have been a team effort, I just finished them off,” Reinach said with a modesty that was almost as impressive as some of the moments of solo brilliance he has dazzled with for the Sharks.

“It’s never about me, for me it’s always about getting the ball out, getting quick ball for the team, which is very key to the way the Springboks want to play. I’ll never try and force a gap for myself,” he added.

Reinach is the son of the late Jaco Reinach, the last man to represent South Africa in both rugby and athletics. Jaco was the South African record-holder for the 400m (45.01) from April 1983 until 2011 when it was broken by LJ van Zyl, a three-time African champion and Olympian.

So it probably wasn’t a surprise that Cobus Reinach began his rugby career on the wing, but was moved to scrumhalf when he was deemed to be too small for the back three.

“I always played wing until U13 when I was told I was too small for that position – at all of 38kgs,” Reinach recalled.

“I had to adapt very quickly and I didn’t really have any role-models who were scrumhalves. So I used to watch George Gregan and Fourie du Preez a lot and copy what they did.”

The evergreen Du Preez is injured – out for the rest of the year – which has allowed Reinach to receive his first full call-up to the Springbok squad.

“It’s an exciting, amazing feeling to be around the Springboks. I’m having a good season, which helps, but the main part of being here is to learn. Fourie, Ruan Pienaar and Francois Hougaard are all world-class scrumhalves, but if you want to be the best, then you have to compete against the best,” Reinach said.

While the Sharks, with a conservative game plan and problems at flyhalf, often relied on Reinach’s individual brilliance to spark their attacking play, the Springboks have threats across the park and the 24-year-old knows he has to concentrate on slick service and the one area of his game that has shown signs of weakness – his tactical kicking.

“There are always areas to improve. My passing from both left and right hand is fine, but I’m working on my weak foot.

“At the Sharks, we have a big tactical kicking game and if it doesn’t go your way on the day then you’re in trouble. We weren’t good enough in the SuperRugby semi-final, but the Springboks don’t play the same type of rugby – they run a bit more and they kick and exit their own half differently,” Reinach said.

Reinach junior was just six years old when his father died in a car accident, aquaplaning off the road near Kroonstad and hitting a tree in January 1997, but it is clear Jaco’s legacy lives on strongly in his son.

Apart from being a world-class athlete, denied an international stage due to Apartheid, Jaco Reinach was an exceptional wing who was unfortunate to only play four times for the Springboks. He was at his peak in the mid-1980s, but that was the era of Ray Mordt and Michael and Carel du Plessis and he played in just one series – against the 1986 New Zealand Cavaliers. Reinach snr scored two tries, one of them a memorable effort from the halfway line in the 33-18 victory at Loftus Versfeld.

When Cobus makes his bow on the international stage (it will surely be sooner rather than later), it will be an emotional time for the Grey Bloem product.

“Even though he was not there, my dad was definitely the biggest influence on my career. I always wanted to follow in his footsteps. I watched the Battle of the Giants video of the Springboks’ series against the New Zealand Cavaliers over and over and just to see him run was brilliant. I think I’m quite quick but not as quick as him, especially not off the mark!

“When I saw my name in the Springbok squad, I was so happy. But I’m going to try and keep the emotion out of it until I get in the team. After I’ve played my first game, then I think I will be emotional,” Reinach said with refreshing candour.

There are a million different ways to play rugby and, while there is a hint of contrasting philosophies when it comes to Jake White and Heyneke Meyer, Reinach welcomes all the input at this early stage of his career.

“Every coach has his own idea of how to play, so I’ve picked up a few ideas along the way. That’s how my game will grow up, that’s how I will be able to do everything. With experience and game time, my decision-making will get better and better, but I also don’t want to lose my instinctive moves,” he said.

The instinctive moments of brilliance are what most people will notice; but the best teams have scrumhalves who also do the basics faultlessly, unnoticed, much like a wicketkeeper in cricket.

Scrumhalves need to have their fingers on the pulse of play, they dictate the tempo and flow of the game.

In Cobus Reinach, the Springboks have someone with the skills to grow into that role … with a bit of magic on the side.