The History of Bishops Rugby is a long and colourful one. The sport which developed into rugby football has its South African origins at Bishops - from the game introduced to Bishops by the then headmaster Canon George Ogilvie in 1861. The green Springbok jersey comes from Bishops too - the SA captain in 1896 Barry Heatlie gave his team his Old Diocesan Rugby Club's green jerseys for their Test at Newlands vs the touring British team, and with SA winning their first test in history, the jersey became the SA Test match jersey. Bishops has produced about 60 international rugby players, representing a host of different countries not only South Africa. Important to us too is the style of play with which Bishops approaches the game - we like to avoid contact by running at the opposition and passing before contact. Our pattern is based around skilful attack, tight defence - and enormous enjoyment of practising and playing.
Facilities
We have nine rugby fields. The main field, our 1st XV field, is called the Piley Rees, in honour of our longest serving 1st XV coach. Our u16s play on the Sahara, u15s on the Cemetery and u14s on the Range. The other field on the main campus is the Avenue field, and we have four fields alongside the school at Lutgensvale. Our rugby pavilion and clubhouse - the Heatlie Pavilion - was demolished (in March 2008) ahead of rebuilding - a substantial facility including home and visitors' changing-rooms, a referees' changing-room, a medical room, a bigger tuckshop, and much improved seating, has now been completed, and we now await only the furnishing and finishing touches.
Outreach
Bishops run a Rugby Academy for disadvantaged boys from the townships.
Bishops Rugby overview
My first task as the new Master in Charge of Rugby is to write a review of the 2009 season.
The ‘nuts and bolts’ of our teams’ performances have been detailed by the various coaches and my brief, therefore, is to comment on Bishops Rugby in more general terms. To this end, I have decided to use the Agenda of our end-of-season coaches’ meeting as the basis of my article, as I believe that it will prove helpful in understanding the complexities of the issues we face as we attempt to remain competitive in the increasingly professional environment of South African schoolboy rugby. Currently, there is an ever-widening gap between the haves and the have-nots and let me say unequivocally, that if we fail to address the issues tabled at our meeting, it will not be long before we descend to the ranks of the latter.
In essence, our meeting focused on the following issues:
• The season overview - how did we perform and how strong is Bishops Rugby overall?
• Bishops Rugby - Quo Vadis?
• Coaching, Coaches and Courses
• MiC of Rugby – administrator or director?
At present, Bishops is able to field in the region of 20 teams each Saturday, which means that approximately 40% of the school plays rugby. This is certainly a healthy state of affairs. Personally, I am not one to place great emphasis on national rankings - but many do and it is perhaps interesting to note that, at 1st XV level, Bishops is one of only two schools in the country to have been ranked in the top 10 for the past five years. But are we really that strong…? In general, it can be said that we are reasonably competitive through the age groups against local opposition and the smaller Northern Suburbs schools. But here is another, more revealing, statistic – this year, against Paul Roos, Boland Landbou and Paarl Boys (only the 1st XV played Paarl Gym), we mustered the sum total of 9 victories out of a possible 62 matches! Are these schools naturally that much better than us? I don’t believe so. They have all adopted aggressive recruitment policies (particularly at entry level) and have put in place conditioning programmes, coaching structures and specific funding initiatives which have enabled them to take their rugby, across the board, to unprecedented levels. The question we asked ourselves is Quo Vadis – where is Bishops rugby heading?
Undoubtedly, there have been initiatives to strengthen rugby at Bishops. The business relationship with Vital Health is critical and has already had a positive impact, both in terms of the ‘nice to haves’ we can now afford and because it has enabled us to enrol a limited number of talented rugby players. But we are still way behind the frontrunners. In this regard, some would argue that the so-called ‘elite’ rugby schools have achieved their lofty status at the expense of other, more important, educational factors such as academics, culture and pastoral care. I don’t believe that Bishops needs to jeopardise its well deserved reputation as a school that offers a balanced education if it attempts to give rugby the attention it needs to remain at the ‘cutting edge’. For example, I think there is a desperate need to foster enthusiasm in the greater Bishops rugby community. Inroads can be made by introducing something as simple as a monthly ‘200 Club’ rugby evening. We now have a wonderful facility in the new Heatlie Pavilion, so let’s make an effort to bring parents, OD’s and friends together. Where else are we falling short – what other, specific areas should we be focussing on? I have already mentioned the need to address the intake at Bishops at Grade 8 level. This is an Executive decision and has been tabled for discussion. However, for obvious physical and developmental reasons, good Grade 8 rugby players do not necessarily become top U18 players and so there is a continued, urgent requirement to supplement our rugby ranks in Grades 10 and 11. Further to this, we urgently need to refine our structures in the spheres of coaching, coaches and courses. Diocesan College has a proud rugby history. Over the years, through the influence of a number of outstanding coaches, its teams have developed a style of rugby that is unique in the manner in which it is played. Simply stated, Bishops rugby has become identifiable both within South Africa and abroad and we have a responsibility to be the guardians of this tradition. To do this, there needs to be better communication between the coaches – from the 1st XV through to those at Bishops Prep. I’m not suggesting that coaches shouldn’t have their own particular style, but we cannot work in isolation – we need to have a common (Bishops) goal. To this end, I believe that teachers need to be at the helm of our teams (which brings into question teacher appointments, of course!), with talented younger coaches placed in the role of assistants. This would go some way towards achieving continuity.
Coaches need assistance with coaching. Downloading drills from websites isn’t necessarily good enough, unless you know that your charges are doing things correctly. Courses are available – but they, too, can be problematic. In the first instance, it is often unaffordable to send all our coaches. Secondly, timing can be an issue and thirdly, we’re not always convinced that they’re of an appropriate level. The best solution is to arrange internal sessions. Here at Bishops, we have a wealth of expertise at our disposal amongst staff, OD’s and other connections (Tim Lane, Nick Mallett and Jake White are just a few examples of coaches with international experience who have been happy to assist in the past). Bishops players from all age groups should be used to demonstrate drills, according to what level the drill is aimed at. I do believe that the MiC should, by definition, be conversant with modern trends in the game and attending appropriate courses should be part of his job description – the ‘buck’ should rest with him and he needs to be adequately equipped to deal with the challenge.
Which brings me to my final point and the last item on the Agenda – can a Master in Charge take Bishops Rugby forward, or do we need a Director? Countrywide, we are seeing more and more schools advertising for Directors of rugby – why is this? Using Bishops as an example, I’d like to conclude by sharing my thoughts on this thorny issue. Having fulfilled the role of Head of Sport for the past two years, I think I’m qualified to say that the position of a Master in Charge of any major sport at Bishops is divided into two clear areas of responsibility – Administrator and Director. I respectfully suggest that, at a school as busy as ours, the unavoidable consequence is that neither area functions at its optimum.
Logically, I see the issues listed on our Agenda and discussed in this article as being the responsibility of a Director. I see communication with parents, arrangement of fixtures, match day organization, liaison with Grounds and Maintenance and representation at the WP Union as the function of an Administrator. I believe that for the sport to be sustainable at the top level of the game, consideration must be given to enabling the Master in Charge of Bishops rugby to focus more of his time and attention on matters of direction - Bishops is a proud Rugby school.
Dave Mallett
(Please note that a full team by team report, with detailed results, appears in the December College magazine).
Bishops Rugby schedule for 2009
PROVISIONAL SCHEDULE FOR 2010:
Term 2
Wednesday 24 March: 1st XV: WP Schools’ Day: Newlands (TBC)
Saturday 27 March: 1st XV, 2nd XV, u16A, u15A, u14A vs St Andrew’s College (H) (TBC)
Sunday 28 March – Monday 12 April: 1st XV Tour to Italy
Saturday 17 April: Boland Landbou (A)
Thursday 22 April: Paarl Boys’ High (A)
Saturday 1May: Paul Roos (H)
Saturday 8 May: SACS (A)
Saturday 15 May: Stellenberg (A)
Saturday 22 May: Wynberg (H)
Saturday 29 May: Paarl Gym (A)
Saturday 5 June: RBHS (A)
Term 3
Saturday 17 July: Tygerberg (A)
Saturday 24 July: Wynberg (A)
Saturday 31 July: Brackenfell (A)
Saturday 7 August: Rangers / Silvertree (H)
Saturday 14 August: SACS (H)
Saturday 21 August: Rondebosch (H)
Last Updated: 08 February 2010
Sport >> Rugby
