Ken Borland

They say money talks and the South African Rugby Union’s club rugby department will be spending more than R3 million on transport alone for the Cell C Community Cup that was launched in Sandton on Wednesday. The custodians of the game in this country are shouting from the rooftops their commitment to rejuvenating grassroots rugby.

The seven-week-long tournament features the best non-university clubs (universities already have the Varsity Cup) from each of the 14 provinces and Limpopo, and five wild-card invitees, and will run with pool play from 16 February through to 16 March.

The tournament has been divided into four pools of five teams each, and the top two from each pool after the round-robin stage will go through to the Easter Playoffs in George from 28 March to 1 April.

The pools have been randomly drawn and will not be on a regional basis and this is what gives the tournament its charm and national feel. It also explains why the South African Rugby Union (Saru) has had to put its money where its mouth is.

The 20 teams will cover a combined distance of 62,300km during the pool stages, an average return journey of 1,550km for each of the 40 matches to be played. White River, the Mpumalanga champions, get an early taste of the road trip feeling when they travel from the Lowveld to Boland to take on Roses United in Wellington in the opening round.

Duane Heath is Saru’s project manager for club rugby and he has spent the last couple of years travelling around the country, from Cape Town to Polokwane, to places like Bethlehem, Springbok, East London and Richard’s Bay, doing a thorough audit of the situation at grassroots level and consulting with these struggling open clubs.

“It was important to get buy-in from all the provinces and every little town I visited was like another piece of the puzzle. People have been talking about reviving club rugby for many years, but we needed to see what everyone wanted.

“I was in Potchefstroom for a sub-union competition when the Lowveld manager came to me and said they were tired of playing against the same old teams and how nice it would be to take on sides from down south.

“That’s why we came up with four national pools and not regional ones, even though it costs more. It’s going to allow different cultures and communities to meet. We’ll see intriguing clashes like African Bombers against Pretoria Police. We could also be creating derbies like between the mining clubs – Sishen versus Rustenburg Impala. And there will be different pools and teams every year, so there is none of that sameness that SuperRugby sometimes suffers from,” Heath said.

Club rugby is the lifeblood of the sport in South Africa, because there is such a wealth of talent and many potential stars don’t play Craven Week and therefore don’t get picked up by the scouts from the various franchises. The late developers are the main beneficiaries from the Community Cup because they now have a televised stage on which to shine.

Gary Teichmann was one of the great Springbok captains, but if he had been born 10 years later, he would have turned 18 at the dawn of professionalism in 1995 and would have become one of the lost talents.

While studying at Cedara Agricultural College, the eighthman and late developer played for Natal University and was finally spotted by Natal coach Ian McIntosh aged 24 in 1991.

The rest is history, as they say, but Nico Luus, the Pretoria Police captain and 35-year-old veteran of more than 100 first-class games for the Valke, says the talent at club level is still being left untapped.

“There are a lot of players good enough to play SuperRugby, they just need to show their talents. A lot of players nowadays go straight from Craven Week to provincial rugby, but they haven’t developed the mental strength and that’s why they get lost. You need to play with older guys, guys who have played provincial rugby before and are now giving back to their clubs,” Luus said.

While one of the main focuses of the Community Cup will be uncovering new talent, it is also about catering for those who love playing rugby but who do not want to become professionals and, for them, the tournament provides the thrill of high-level competition, a chance to travel and play all around South Africa and even appear on TV.

Chris Micklewood, the captain of the all-conquering College Rovers side that last year claimed their 79^th win in 83 matches to become national club champions, is a case in point. The Westville utility back played for SA Schools in 2005 before enjoying professional stints with Brive and the Newcastle Falcons.

“Being a professional rugby player actually doesn’t appeal to me and I wasn’t that committed to playing full time. After spending three years playing for Newcastle Falcons, I was looking for a semi-pro platform, somewhere where I could follow my profession [marketing] and play.

“That’s what’s important about the Community Cup, it really allows one to work and play at a good level. I’m so excited about it,” Micklewood said.

The platteland has always been the main supplier of Springboks and young men in those regions can now get noticed before being signed up by one of the big metropolitan unions.

“The Community Cup creates an aspirational pathway for players to show their talents. Clubs have always been the feeders of our provincial and Springbok teams and this tournament creates the platform for them to take it to the next level,” Saru CEO Jurie Roux said.

One of the most famous Cinderella stories in South African rugby is Griqualand West’s 1970 Currie Cup triumph, with several players drawn from the Ammasol mine in Barkly West.

It was in a similarly remote corner of the Northern Cape that Heath came face-to-face with the pride and passion that exists in club rugby.

“It was past Upington, a little mining town called Olifantshoek. This rugby club in the middle of nowhere was run by a father and his son and the clubhouse was dilapidated and vandalised. But they were determined to keep their club alive, even though the young son had a heart condition.

“It was really emotional seeing them posing proudly in front of their run-down clubhouse… it was their pride and joy. If it wasn’t for their club, they’d have nothing,” Heath said.

The same story can probably be told all over the country and the Community Cup will give the heart and soul of rugby in South Africa the proper place it deserves. DM

Pools (*=wildcard)

• Pool A – College Rovers (KZN), Despatch (EP), Sishen (GW), Villagers Worcester (Boland), SK Walmers* (WP).
• Pool B – Pretoria Police (Bulls), Durbanville-Belville (WP), Bloemfontein Police (FS), Welkom Rovers (NFS), African Bombers* (EP).
• Pool C – Rustenburg Impala (NW), Roodepoort (Lions), Noordelikes (Limpopo), Bloemfontein Crusaders* (FS), Raiders* (Lions).
• Pool D – Old Selbornian (Border), Brakpan (Valke), Evergreens (SWD), White River (Mpumalanga), Roses United* (Boland).

Full tournament schedule – http://www.sarugby.co.za/article.aspx?category=sarugby/clubchampionships&id=1712454

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-02-07-community-cup-a-celebration-of-rugbys-grassroots/#.UZ4bWKI3A6w

Springbok rugby might not be setting the world alight at the moment, but six South Africans will be chasing the record for most consecutive wins this weekend in a reminder of how our talent has had an influence all over the planet.

Cyprus is not widely known as a rugby-playing nation but, with half-a-dozen South Africans in the starting team and 15 in the wider squad, they have won all three of their Tests this year to take their winning streak to 15 games since their last defeat in September 2008.

They start their new season on Saturday against Austria in Vienna with the world record of 18 successive wins, set by Lithuania between May 2006 and April 2010, firmly in their sights. Many South African fans, whose knowledge of the facts often plays second fiddle to their passion for the game, were blissfully unaware of this record, thinking Nick Mallett’s Springboks of 1997/98 held the honours with their 17-match streak.

But with the All Blacks having been held to a draw by Australia last month, ending their winning streak at 16, it is Cyprus in prime position to become the new world record holder.

Springbok rugby might not be setting the world alight at the moment, but six South Africans will be chasing the record for most consecutive wins this weekend in a reminder of how our talent has had an influence all over the planet.

Cyprus are not widely known as a rugby-playing nation but, with half-a-dozen South Africans in the starting team and 15 in the wider squad, they have won all three of their Tests this year to take their winning streak to 15 games since their last defeat in September 2008.

They start their new season on Saturday against Austria in Vienna with the world record of 18 successive wins, set by Lithuania between May 2006 and April 2010, firmly in their sights. Many South African fans, whose knowledge of the facts often plays second fiddle to their passion for the game, were blissfully unaware of this record, thinking Nick Mallett’s Springboks of 1997/98 held the honours with their 17-match streak.

But with the All Blacks having been held to a draw by Australia last month, ending their winning streak at 16, it is Cyprus who are in prime position to become the new world record holders.

They have just been promoted to European Nations Cup Division 2C, but Bulgaria, who they thrashed 94-3 in April, were promoted with them and have already beaten Austria 12-7 a short while ago.

While Cyprus are taking European rugby by storm, the reality for the team is that it is the old story of an amateur outfit struggling to make ends meet.

Coach Paul Shanks, a member of the British Royal Air Force that was based on the eastern Mediterranean island and a former Combined Services player and coach, spends an hour or two a night co-ordinating travel plans and doing other admin work that brings together a team made up of players based in nine different countries.

“The financial crisis in Europe and in Cyprus generally has had the biggest impact on us.  A major sponsor would make a major difference for us, but there’s no money. There are five to seven thousand kids involved in the Tag Rugby programme on the island, but the finances aren’t there to take that further,” Shanks says.

Most of the team have full-time jobs and they have to pay to travel to their matches and training sessions, most of which are held in England, as well as kit.

And they have also suffered at the hands of the Cypriot Sports Organisation, whose reaction to the growing sport has ranged from non-existent support to charging them for playing at home.

But the dogged determination of the Cyprus team, known as the Moufflons (wild sheep that live in the mountains), has seen them prosper and not only serves as a great reminder why most people take up the game, but also as an inspiring fairytale of how the little guy succeeds against all odds.

The incredible journey began in the late 1990s when many Cypriot families who had moved to South Africa, England and Australia after the Turkish invasion of 1974 returned home and brought rugby with them. The game had previously been played in the British military bases on the island, but in 2003 the Paphos Tigers club, made up predominantly of South African returnees, was formed.

In 2006, the Cypriot Rugby Federation was created and the team’s first international was against Greece in 2007, the new boys winning 39-3.

Azerbaijan, Monaco and Slovakia were all beaten in Cyprus’s first year in the European Third Division but the rookies ran out of pant in their promotion/relegation match against Israel, losing 23-14 to remain in the D Section for 2008.

But since then they have won every match, showing astonishing endurance as they have earned three promotions in successive years and have played a pleasing brand of rugby as well.

“We play quite an attractive style of rugby, we let the ball do the work. Our game plan is based on support play and keeping the ball alive, which worked convincingly for us last season, as shown by our big wins against Bulgaria (94-3) and Greece (72-5). But it’s also based on the forwards laying the foundation, they do the dog-work,” Shanks says.

The former hooker added that there were a trio of top-class South Africans in the backline … a reminder that we don’t just produce forwards.

While a lot of the players are based elsewhere, Shanks says three were born in Cyprus and a couple qualified to play through being resident for 36 months, but the rest all have Cypriot parents or grandparents.

And the team’s success is making a difference on an island where football has dominated but has brought far less prestige on the international stage.

“We’ve realised through our development that the average Cypriot wonders what rugby is all about and football still very much dominates the island’s thinking. But by continuing to win, it’s had a knock-on effect and the world-record chase has definitely proven to be a tool to attract young players. The in-country recognition is starting to stir and government is also getting interested,” Shanks says.

Rugby is also mending old wounds. Lefkosia is the world’s last remaining divided capital with a United Nations buffer zone separating the self-declared Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Greek Cypriot-controlled south. But the Moufflons have had Turkish Cypriot players from the outset and three members of that community are integral members of the squad.

The world record is one thing, but Shanks has his eyes set on Cyprus having a go for World Cup qualification.

If they can win Division 2C, then they will enter the qualifiers and five knockout matches will stand between them and the repechage playoff and a place in the 2015 World Cup.

“I have to pinch myself sometimes, but it has been a lot of hard work. But after the game every Saturday, it’s all worth it,” Shanks says.

http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-11-16-shanks-a-bunch-the-fairytale-of-cyprus-rugby