'Mental toughness' the key - Rudy
FNB Pukke head coach Rudy Joubert is confident of going one better at this year’s National Club Championships – if his team can stay mentally strong throughout the tournament.
Having gone down by 34-36 to Hamilton’s in last year’s final at Loftus Versfeld, Pukke – who also finished as runners-up in the 2009 Varsity Cup – will be looking to avenge that defeat at the 2010 tournament in Stellenbosch, which gets underway this weekend.
Joubert, speaking to varsitycup.co.za ahead of the Club Champs, said: “We’re quite confident of going one better this year.
“Make no mistake, however… it will be tough,” he added.
“We’ve got a tough draw – we start against Middelburg and then, hopefully, we will be up against Roses or Shimlas, with the possibility of going up against one of Tuks, UJ or Rovers. It could end up being a mini-Varsity Cup for us – if all goes well – which, in itself, would be a challenging few days for us.”
Whilst the Varsity Cup is a tough tournament in itself (over a two-month period), the jam-packed schedule at the National Club Champs – all of which takes place over one week – makes it a different kettle of fish altogether.
“I have no doubt that our conditioning will allow us to play four matches in six days,” said the former Springbok assistant coach.
“But in order to go the distance you need a bit of luck along the way and by that I mean injuries and the bounce of the ball. Coupled with that, however, you need to be mentally strong.
“Mental toughness is a crucial factor and that will also help us overcome playing away from home and in the Maties’ backyard.”
Speaking of the Maties – the 12 times National Club Championships winners – Joubert said: “If we come up against them we have to ensure that we’re better than them on the day – it’s that simple.
“As I said, we need to be mentally strong throughout the next week in order to overcome any challenge that comes our way.”
Joubert is very happy with the make-up of his squad that will make the trip to Cape Town later this week – despite losing hooker BW van Dyk to injury in his team’s recent Grand Challenge Final loss to fellow Varsity Cup side, UJ.
“We’ve got a good mix in our 25-man squad,” said the Pukke boss, “I’m confident that any one of my players – if pressed into action – will do the job.
“Our current squad is a bit different to the group that played in the Varsity Cup, mainly with provincial call-ups, but having Marcel du Toit (at flyhalf) has made a big difference – along with the inclusion of a few new youngsters.”
* Pukke will take on Middelburg (the Mpumalanga champions) at the Danie Craven Stadium on Saturday at 1.30pm.
