{"id":222751,"date":"2022-04-22T19:14:50","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T17:14:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/?p=115046"},"modified":"2022-04-22T19:14:50","modified_gmt":"2022-04-22T17:14:50","slug":"coach-on-a-drive-to-bolster-madibaz-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/coach-on-a-drive-to-bolster-madibaz-rugby\/","title":{"rendered":"Coach on a drive to bolster Madibaz rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1 \">\n<aside id=\"republication_tracker_tool-2\" class=\"republication_tracker_tool clearfix\">\n<h5 class=\"adtitle\">Republish for Free<\/h5>\n<div class=\"license\">\n<p><button name=\"Republish This Story\" id=\"cc-btn\" class=\"republication-tracker-tool-button\">Republish This Story<\/button><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"license\" rel=\"noreferrer license noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Creative Commons License\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/coach-on-a-drive-to-bolster-madibaz-rugby.png\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Creative Commons License\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/coach-on-a-drive-to-bolster-madibaz-rugby.png\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"message\">\n<p>Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/aside>\n<figure id=\"attachment_115047\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-115047\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/?attachment_id=115047\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"wp-image-115047 size-thumbnail lazyload\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/coach-on-a-drive-to-bolster-madibaz-rugby.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-115047 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/coach-on-a-drive-to-bolster-madibaz-rugby.jpg\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"200\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-115047\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">FNB Madibaz rugby coach David Manuel is aiming to bolster the Nelson Mandela University squad as they continue the process of building for the future. Photo: Varsity Cup<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>FNB Madibaz rugby coach David Manuel is on a drive to bolster his squad, particularly in the tight forwards department, as they look ahead to the FNB Varsity Shield competition next year.<\/p>\n<p>The Nelson Mandela University side spent two years in the Varsity Cup \u2013 the highest tier of the competition \u2013 but finished bottom of the combined log over those seasons to be relegated to the Shield tournament for 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Manuel came in as the coach in November last year with the mandate to rebuild the system at the varsity.<\/p>\n<p>Although they were disappointed at being relegated, he said it was important to face the reality of the situation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRebuilding the system needs time and the objective is to create a legacy here that will outlast me and that will be a lighthouse for the next generation of student-athletes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>With his first Varsity Cup season as Madibaz mentor now behind him, Manuel underlined the value of experience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe competed with a very young team who had not played at this level before and we have to get games under their belt and get them to win more to grow belief,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are busy with our recruitment strategy to ensure we can get players who add value to our system. It is also important to establish a pipeline from our schooling system in Gqeberha.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Manuel acknowledged that moving to the Shield competition would complicate the recruitment process, but said he was already in conversation with the current squad to assess their plans for next year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe would like to keep 90 per cent of this squad to maintain momentum and build experience. We are aware of the challenges and that we need to find ways to work around it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Madibaz mentor said one of the biggest factors was to bolster their personnel up front.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou need a more experienced tight five to manage the demands at Varsity Cup level,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t have a competitive set piece, you will struggle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPlayers need to improve technically right across the board in terms of generic and positional skills, so there is a massive amount of work ahead of us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite the challenges they faced, Manuel praised the squad for the fight they showed each week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had our first win in two years (against Central University of Technology) and our game against UCT in Cape Town (lost 33-26) was close.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI felt that [the match against UCT] was the tipping point. If we had won that one it could have led to a better finish to our campaign.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlthough disappointed, the positive is that we can use the remainder of the year to build and develop the system and our players, to beef up our tight five and to establish a winning culture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Manuel thanked the Madibaz fans for their support.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey have been great. There is truth in the saying \u2018Rome was not built in a day\u2019 and I believe the supporters have seen some improvement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s now a matter of being patient and placing trust in the fact that we are busy with a process to build a better rugby programme that will serve the generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mypr.co.za\/contact\/featured\/\">CLICK HERE to submit your press release to MyPR.co.za<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> <span class=\"post-views-icon dashicons dashicons-chart-bar\"><\/span> <span class=\"post-views-label\">Post Views:<\/span> <span class=\"post-views-count\">67<\/span> <\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-pagination pagination\">Pages: <span class=\"post-page-numbers current\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Page <\/span>1<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/coach-on-a-drive-to-bolster-madibaz-rugby\/2\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Page <\/span>2<\/a><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\">Source: MyPR.co.za<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republish for Free Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. FNB Madibaz rugby coach David Manuel is aiming to bolster the Nelson Mandela University squad as they continue the process of building for the future. Photo: Varsity Cup FNB Madibaz rugby coach David Manuel is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":222752,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9021,1],"tags":[3257],"class_list":{"0":"post-222751","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mypr","8":"category-south-africa","9":"tag-mypr","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/coach-on-a-drive-to-bolster-madibaz-rugby.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}