Border Rugby announcement

Jan 21 • General News, Vodacom Cup • 3506 Views • Comments Off on Border Rugby announcement

BRU Administrator, Mr Monde Tabata

Written by: Bronwyn Claridge – Rugby 15

“Border will never be the same…” was the promise made by BRU Administrator, Mr Monde Tabata, at a media briefing today. He was talking about the general progress made by the Border Rugby Union since SARU’s intervention in 2014. Mr Tabata, a member of the SARU executive for 4 years up until 2014, explained how the new Border Rugby executive has worked hard to resolve the financial woes experienced by the union over the past few years, and by negotiating agreements with its creditors, the union hopes to be clear of its debt by the end of 2015.

But this was not the only bit of positive news from Monde Tabata. Border Bulldogs Forwards Coach, Elliot Fana, is joined by David Dobela, who re-joins the Border Bulldogs after a 5 year absence, as Backline Coach. He has a wealth of coaching experience, having worked through the national coaching system. He has an impressive resume’ having assisted the likes of Jake White, Gert Smal & Nick Mallet at various levels of the game. The team is also joined by Denzil van Heerden who, as Conditioning Coach, will ensure that the team constantly remain at their peak fitness levels. He joins the Union from the SARU national office.

This year, the Border Bulldogs team is generally a young side with 26 contracted players – 15 forwards & 11 backs – captained by Blake Kyd with Ntando Kebe as vice-captain with additional 10 non-contracted players selected for the 2015 Vodacom Cup squad. All of the players have been selected from various local club & varsity sides. Unfortunately, no Old Boys players could be considered for the Vodacom Cup, said Coach David Dobela, due to their participation in the Community Cup competition but he did, however, mention that the Bulldogs team was not “cut and dried” and that selectors would continue to scout games for prospective talent for the side, and that once the Community Cup competition was over, Old Boys players could also be considered for the team…

Emphasis, this year, is also being placed on developing future Bulldogs teams by focusing on the talented youth – the 13 year olds and older. Selectors from the Border Academy would be focusing on finding young talent for development at the academy. Mr Tabata stated that too much talent was being lost to the bigger unions due to the exposure received at the Craven Week tournaments. “13 year olds must WANT to play for Border”, he said. He wants to win back the confidence in Border Rugby from the schools and revive interest in the game in those “lost” areas.

So, what can Border Supporters expect from the 2015 season? Pre-season training started in October last year and Monde Tabata stated that the Border Bulldogs have had the same level of preparation as the other unions. A few pre-season “friendlies” have also been set up – the first of them is being played on Friday, this week, at the BCM stadium. He said that he is happy with the efforts made by the team in preparation for a season that is going to be well worth watching and that Border will not be at the bottom of the table at the end of this season. He has challenged the team to aim for a finish in the middle of the log this year – a vast improvement on last season’s performance. Coaches David Dobela & Elliot Fana as well as Monde Tabata agreed that this was achievable but would be difficult without the support of the locals or sponsors – Border Rugby need both in order to rise to Monde Tabata’s challenge.