Gold admits initial anger
The Sharks’ new coaching staff were speaking at a pre-season press conference yesterday. Gold, backline coach Sean Everitt and new forwards coach Ryan Strudwick were on hand to talk about the upcoming domestic competition.
Gold had planned to take a step away from directly coaching the Sharks in the Currie Cup and next year’s Super Rugby competition.
However, it seems the candidate the KZN outfit had been in talks with decided to turn down the position at the eleventh hour – which threw a spanner in the works.
“What happened was that there was a report that got out that we were considering me taking a step back, we were considering it but we never spoke of the timing. We aren’t going to make any knee-jerk reactions about bringing anyone in at a moment’s notice,” Gold said.
“We identified a candidate but for personal reasons the individual couldn’t come in, we might as well be honest about that. But, continuity, for me, was the most important thing.”
“It was interesting, when we had discussions with this individual about potentially joining us and then the guy couldn’t make it – I remember my emotions were very clear that night.”
“It was initially anger – because it wasn’t a conversation that had just taken place, it was one that had been going for a very long time. We didn’t wake up one day and say let’s just pick this guy.”
“I just thought to myself, this is actually an unbelievable opportunity to work with these guys and let's just go and do it. That’s where I am at the moment – I’m interested in the continuity and knuckling down.”
Despite a lacklustre Super Rugby campaign, Gold seems determined to work towards a successful Currie Cup and is backing the coaching staff alongside him. He also hammered home the importance of having experienced coaches looking after the Sharks’ junior ranks.
Paul Anthony and Michael Horak, who were part of the Super Rugby coaching staff, have been assigned to the Sharks U19 and U21 sides respectively.
“For a number of years, The Sharks haven’t had contracted coaches who work with us, where we have the same vision and planning of where we want to go. There is such a short space of time between Super Rugby and the Currie Cup, it made sense for me to continue,” Gold said.
“Brad (Macleod-Henderson) chose to move on so it made perfect sense for Ryan Strudwick to step up. His experience speaks volumes, not only did we work together in the UK, he was our captain and we won trophies together, but he’s been an outstanding coach in KZN for a number of years, recently winning the Varsity shield.”
“For me it’s a very exciting prospect to take Durban boys and be able to bring them through. Sean Everitt’s experience is fantastic, he was a rock in the Super Rugby competition, he’s coached at club level and been successful there and he’s done very well with the juniors. It’s great continuity to be able to bring these guys through and I’m very excited for this Currie Cup campaign,” Gold said.
The Sharks begin their Currie Cup campaign against the Pumas on August 7.
Twitter - @gazza_jenks @ECRSportswave
Facebook - ECRSportswave