Shimmy whips Ikeys into shape
Speaking exclusively to rugby365.com, Shimange has taken over the role of leading the Cape-based students from Kevin Musikanth and has praised his entire management team for making his task easier to handle.
"I have been the head coach of the club side before, so the role will not be a new experience. Everyone has their task, which makes it a collaborative effort – the entire management has been great and made things a lot easier because they are doing their bit.
"The club has been brilliant and they players have brought their part. These are amateurs players and students but have committed properly by showing their keen interest and it's been a good experience thus far.
"Preparations have been going well and all the guys are working hard and doing their part. The main thing now is the conditioning of the guys and making sure our fundamentals are right, which is always an on-going process.
"Fitness and conditioning has been a big focus area and we will still push the button of conditioning over the next few weeks in order to get the players where they need to be by the first game [on February 8]," Shimange said.
The former Springbok hooker will have about 50 percent of the 2015 squad available at his disposal, while the remainder of the squad has been made up of locally recruited players, some of whom have been involved in the Western Province Academy setup.
The two-time champions have already managed to get some metres under their belts with a warm-up match against UWC, who will play in the Varsity Shield competition under the guidance of newly appointed head coach – former Springbok wing Chester Williams.
"I have already had a look at some of the players to see what they are about and what they are capable of doing during a match against UWC. We were able to field two teams for that match and it was a good outing for both sides.
"Warm-up matches are there to allow the players to execute what they have trained and I am happy with where we are at the moment," he added.
Ikeys' pre-season includes an upcoming internal trial match before having a run out against False Bay.
By Tauriq Ebrahim
