SARFU Sends Springbok Great To Kiwi Coaching Cours

22 July 2004
Media Statement

Former Springbok wing Chester Williams caught up with All Black adversary Jeff Wilson at Murray Mexted's International Rugby Academy of New Zealand ahead of the Tri Nations clash this weekend.

Williams, 2004 coach of the Cats Super 12 team and former South African sevens coach, has been sent by the South African Rugby Union to attend the IRANZ High Performance Coaching course in Palmerston North to learn from some of the world's greats.

"Last week we had Chester training with David Campese, Jeff Wilson and Grant Fox. Whilst there is always going to be a rivalry between the countries, in the professional age of rugby we need to learn from each others training methods," said Murray.

The South African winger, who played 27 tests for the Springboks, was forced into coaching when a recurring knee injury ended his career in 2001. Williams became the first black head coach of a Super 12 team when he was promoted to replace Cats coach Tim Lane in March this year.

The IRANZ coaching programme, which runs for two weeks, is covering all aspects of professional coaching and coach development. The course has featured specialist experts including Laurie Mains, John Boe and David Nucifora.

Murray has designed the IRANZ coaching programme to run in conjunction with the High Performance Players course.

"Being able to run the courses concurrently is a benefit for everyone here. It's almost impossible to run a professional-level coaching programme on a white board," he said.

"Over the two week period Chester is working not only with world class coaches and former rugby greats, but also with the High Performance course players.

"This is a fantastic opportunity not only for Chester, but for the emerging players who are training with him," said Murray.

"We are developing these guys' skills at the top level of professional performance, both on and off the field. It's an added bonus for all the young guys on the July course that the South African Rugby Union has recognised the unique value of this programme and has sent Chester and two other SARFU coaches to train here.

"They will be spending their time here in intensive training which will cover all aspects of professional coaching, such as tactics, team structure, motivation and problem solving," said Murray.

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