Andre Vos: A Varsity Cup convert!
Former Springbok captain André Vos was spotted on the sidelines on Monday as the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University took on Shimlas in Varsity Cup action in Cape Town. We caught up with the NMMU technical assistant to find out what he thought of the game, his coaching role and his views on the Varsity Cup.
Vos, who captained the Springboks in 16 Tests, is currently based in Cape Town but has been helping out as a technical assistant at NMMU over the last couple of months while they prepared for their Varsity Cup campaign.
Having been out of rugby for some time now, the 34-year-old former Bok flank is clearly loving being involved in the game once again and is already a huge fan of the FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International.
“It’s absolutely brilliant,” he said of the Varsity Cup, “and the last match on Monday night, the UCT-Maties game was fantastic.”
He added: “The people were absolutely rammed in there and it’s really good to see that other levels of rugby, and other exposures to rugby, are being recognised and well supported. For South African rugby as a whole this is very, very good news.”
A fantastic competitor during his playing days, Vos was naturally disappointed with the final score (NMMU went down 37-11 to Shimlas) on Monday evening, but he was pleased that there had been some positives for the team to take from the match.
“It was obviously a disappointing end to the game, but the guys started off really well. Ball in hand they looked very good, the off-loading game was working well for them and they looked very dangerous on attack,” said Vos, who finished his playing career abroad for London-based club Harlequins.
“We made some errors in our kicking game, putting ourselves under pressure, so now it’s about learning to manage that pressure and ensure we’re playing in the right areas of the pitch.
“But overall it was an encouraging start and some guys had great games, the back row did really well I thought – now it is about building on that,” he continued.
“The guys have worked really hard in the off-season, through December, and now it’s about building on the things that we did well and learning from our mistakes.”
And looking ahead, Vos is confident the Port Elizabeth-based side will improve with experience during the 2009 Varsity Cup. “There are some guys who have been injured who will hopefully be back for the next game, so that will make a difference,” he told varsitycup.co.za.
“But also after the first game of the season, the guys were keen to do well and maybe put a little bit too much pressure on themselves, so now it’s about relaxing and relying on all the good work that they have done.”
Talking about his role with the NMMU team, Vos explained that he was unfortunately unable to have as much time with them as he would like but that he, and fellow Springbok Hennie le Roux, were keen to add value where they could, and as often as possible.
“It hard being a little further away, but I am looking to head down to PE at the end of the month for the UCT game and be there for the weekend, hopefully, able to add some value,” he said.
“I’m enjoying being involved. I’ve been out of rugby for a while now and it’s quite nice to get back into it and to try and help out a bit.
“Hennie is up in Jo’burg, and with me in Cape Town, it’s quite hard. We would like to be more hands on, but realistically and logistically it makes it a bit more difficult to do that.
“We will try and join up with the team as much as possible and sit down with them and chat and, obviously, we’d like to do that as much as possible. There’s also an away game in Stellenbosch, which I will hopefully attend and help out [with].”
