Deon Davids' compelling insight into Southern Kings' chaos and why there aren't many coaches of colour at pro level in South Africa
There were times during his four arduous years in charge of the Southern Kings that Deon Davids must have felt like he was caught in some sort of grotesque rugby groundhog day.
A perpetual and maddening cycle of losing his best players and most experienced staff to bigger teams and replacing them with untested kids. Months of nurturing and grafting undone and a mountainous rebuild required every off-season, with only the paltriest of resources to make it happen.
In 2017, their third and last season in Super Rugby, the Kings stole hearts for the way they attacked and the scalps they took, even while the axe of SANZAAR was hanging over their heads.
They beat the Waratahs and the Jaguares on the road and got the better of the Sharks at home, finishing 11th – their best placing. It was the only year Davids had anything approaching stability or continuity – no coincidence that it was the only year his team made any sort of splash or gave any kind of reflection of his considerable talents as a coach.
After two torrid campaigns in the PRO14, the franchise was taken over by new owners in March. With a year left on his contract, Davids was ready to go.
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“In the past four years with the Kings, I only had one year where I could actually build on a squad, select a squad, and have continuity with my coaching and support staff,” he explained to RugbyPass.
“That was in 2017 and we had a fantastic season. Apart from that, within my two PRO14 years, I never had that privilege. I lost some quality staff to the national set-up, so I had to get new staff who were inexperienced and it takes time to build a specific culture around your management.
“What made it even more difficult was the squad – there was no continuity in the squad and I had to rebuild every year. The European PRO14 teams have excellent high-performance academies.
“Their match-day 23s are filled with international players and stars from overseas. In my case, when you start all over again, it takes time to build a culture, to build combinations and to prepare a solid base in terms of preparation and conditioning.”
After being booted out of Super Rugby, the Kings were gutted, players gobbled up by bigger beasts on juicier contracts, leaving because no-one knew if the franchise would exist or in which competition it would play in a few months’ time.
Their captain and top points scorer, Lionel Cronje, went to Japan. Makazole Mapimpi, now a regular Springbok, and Malcolm Jaer scored 17 of their 49 tries – both were taken by the Cheetahs.
Deon Davids takes chargehttps://t.co/i5DQk6XIU3 pic.twitter.com/ZbslMIB8zq
— Isuzu Southern Kings (@SouthernKingsSA) August 15, 2017
To rub salt into the wounds, Mapimpi would score 10 tries the following season. Off too went Wandile Mjekevu, Waylon Murray, Tyler Paul, Schalk van der Merwe, Chris Cloete and Louis Schreuder – all key members of their Super Rugby campaign.
Davids was left with 15 players. His own contractual situation was only clarified around a month before the PRO14 started and, incredibly, training began just 18 days before the first competitive game.
He knew it would be brutal, but he didn’t know all the work he’d put in over this bruising inaugural season would be torpedoed a year later. Another exodus struck in 2018. Twenty-one players were gone, coaches moved on, Davids scrambled to put a team and staff together, and to create a culture from nothing.
Southern Kings are absolutely bloody useless. Like really useless. Worse than a chocolate fire guard. At least you could eat that!
— The Pen (@thepenGW) May 27, 2016
Overall results have been predictably heinous. In 42 PRO14 matches, the Kings have three victories. They have conceded an average of 37 points per game and had an eye-watering 226 tries stuck past them.
How could a franchise operating on this basis possibly hope to compete with even the most modest or the least fancied PRO14 sides? You could have replaced Davids with Steve Hansen, Warren Gatland or Joe Schmidt and each would have had a hell of a job getting the Kings off the bottom of their conference.
“It’s very, very difficult, mentally and physically tiring,” said Davids. “You have got to set the scene as a coach every single day. Irrespective of the challenges you face, you have got to create something the players can hang on to. That takes a lot of strain.
? REACTION ?
Our Director of High Performance, Robbi Kempson, has welcomed the "tough matches" that await our lads this coming season.
"I’m quite confident that the squad and the coaching staff will relish the challenge.”
Read more: https://t.co/gcuc4Pihx6 pic.twitter.com/Z6wB3UgssX— Isuzu Southern Kings (@SouthernKingsSA) July 17, 2019
“You just come to the point when you get things right and get things going, then you get a setback and you have to start all over again. It’s difficult to start all over again every year because you want to be part of something that you can see growing from one year to the next, where you can see people and the environment getting better. If that doesn’t happen, it is desperately frustrating.
“You’re also under a lot of pressure and you can’t actually showcase what you can do because of that. It’s out of your control – not that I’m trying to make excuses, but if you look at the whole picture, it’s immensely difficult.
“Last year, we didn’t even play a friendly game before the PRO14 started as a result of injury and budget constraints. You have got to get a feeling of your players and combinations. And while we are playing in the PRO14, no other domestic competition is running in South Africa.
“Our Rugby Committee has shortlisted candidates who will be interviewed by the interview panel for the Head Coach position, and the interviewing process has commenced." – Chairman, Loyiso Dotwana
— Isuzu Southern Kings (@SouthernKingsSA) July 11, 2019
“I can’t introduce the rest of the squad to other competitions to see how they develop, so I only select the players going on training sessions. Match fitness and training are two completely different things. And keeping guys positive becomes a challenge – it’s not good for a player just to come and train and he is not playing on the weekend.”
More than three months on from their last game, the cycle of chaos continues. Remarkably – although perhaps unsurprisingly – the Kings have still to appoint Davids’ successor, and the quest for the new man is playing out in a ridiculously ugly and ramshackle manner.
The shortlist of candidates was made public on social media by an Eastern Province official. Peter de Villiers, the former Springboks coach and one of the men on it, came out firing on Tuesday after reports claimed he wasn’t qualified for the job, Worcester’s Rory Duncan has apparently ruled himself out of the running, and the South African press says Steve Jackson, the Samoa coach, is the last candidate standing – even though he’s about to lead the Pacific Islanders in the World Cup finals.
This is turning into quite a mess. https://t.co/QyNLO3qn8c
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 30, 2019
Yet again, the Kings will start their PRO14 season light years behind the rest and quite possibly coach-less. The odds on them finishing anywhere but the bottom of their conference are astronomical.
Davids has emerged from all the tumult a better coach and a cannier person. He knew the Kings job would present a monumental challenge, but if that was what it took to get a crack at Super Rugby, then he was prepared to tackle it.
As a coach, Davids has always been adept at making a little go a long way. In truth, he has never known much else. Coming up the hard way in the Western Cape, he began coaching at club level, working his way up to assistant and head coach roles at three provincial teams where he was part of two Currie Cup First Division titles in among stints helping the Emerging Springboks and South Africa Under-20s before moving to Port Elizabeth in 2016.
? BREAKING NEWS ?
Deon Davids and the ISUZU Southern Kings have reached an amicable agreement to part ways.
The franchise would like to thank Coach DD for laying the foundation for the future.
We wish him well for his future.
Read more: https://t.co/NiUkrTpjuQ pic.twitter.com/dRI5SejJ5L— Isuzu Southern Kings (@SouthernKingsSA) June 19, 2019
Rassie Erasmus, South Africa’s director of rugby, is said to be one of his biggest champions. The Cheetahs expressed an interest in hiring Davids to replace Franco Smith this year, but it never happened. He applied and was interviewed for the Bulls job in Afrikaans country, but that went to Pote Human.
In cataloguing Davids’ long pathway to recognition and Super Rugby, there is an elephant in the room. He has no evidence that his ascent has been consciously made more difficult because of the colour of his skin, but as the only black coach in charge of any of the six franchises last season, and with only four black assistants across those teams, the aesthetics are not good.
“It’s difficult for me to say that I have been deliberately overlooked (for certain jobs), but what I can say is that if you look back at my career, it’s always been a career of having to get used to less and having to compete at the top level,” he insisted.
BULLS ANNOUNCE NEW COACH@BlueBullsRugby appoint Pote Human as their 2019 Super Rugby Head Coach.
All the best and well deserved Coach!!! pic.twitter.com/gUt8YoXkeg
— TheYellowCap (@theyellowcap) December 11, 2018
“When I coached from Currie Cup onwards, the teams I’ve been involved in, it was always a situation of having to build from nowhere and mould teams into something special, which is a struggle.
“I would love to have an opportunity where I can walk into a franchise with enough resources, be able to put my hands on quality players, and just play on an equal level in terms of what I can do. Unfortunately, I haven’t had that opportunity up until now.
“If you look back at our country, you can almost see that happens a lot easier (for white coaches) because there are not a lot of coaches of colour at this level. I’m the second or third that got an opportunity at Super Rugby level and the first to have an opportunity at PRO14 level. It’s difficult for me to say that it is deliberately the case, but that is the trend. That happens in our country. That is the picture that is out there.”
Rassie Erasmus says nothing should be read into Deon Davids joining the @Springboks to observe training sessions. pic.twitter.com/XlwrSNfP7Z
— SA Rugby magazine (@SARugbymag) July 17, 2019
In his time since leaving the Kings, Davids has been shadowing Erasmus in the Springboks camp, eager to use the rare gaps in his diary to better himself. He is keen to test his abilities in the northern hemisphere but his great dream is to lead the Boks.
The word from South Africa is that Erasmus will step back to his director of rugby role after the World Cup, which might leave the head coach’s role vacant. “It’s the most difficult position in the world,” said Davids.
“But if you have come through so much hard work and challenges that I’ve faced, being in Super Rugby, being in the PRO14, having been involved in three Junior World Championship campaigns as an assistant, being with the Emerging Springboks, having coached at the domestic level in the Currie Cup and Vodacom Cup – all the levels in South Africa. That’s the only box I haven’t ticked and I’m confident I would be able to slot in there.
“I’ve got a good understanding of the players, a good knowledge of those players – a lot of them I’ve worked with at junior level – so if the opportunity is there, and they would consider me, I would be confident that I could make that step up and make a contribution.”
Amid all of this, Davids has never forgotten his roots. He is visiting clubs around the Western Cape, eager to smooth the path for the next batch of black coaches. “I understand what these guys feel and fear,” he explained.
“I said to them, ‘I’ve been through this whole reel, you don’t have to go through the same 360 degrees that I have – I can make it shorter for you. I’m here to assist and give you some advice and make you look differently at stuff’.
“If I can do that and inspire and bring through some aspirant black coaches or whoever wants to listen and learn, I will do that with an open heart. That’s my passion, that’s my heart and I love to do that.”
WATCH: Episode three of the RugbyPass Rugby Explorer series sees Jim Hamilton take a trek through South African rugby, including a stop-off in Port Elizabeth
Comments on RugbyPass
Very unlikely the Bulls will beat Leinster in Dublin. It would be different in Pretoria.
1 Go to commentsI think it is a dangerous path to go down to ban a player for the same period that a player they injured takes to recover. Players would be afraid to tackle anyone. I once tackled my best friend at school in a practice match and sprained his ankle. I paid for it by having to play fly-half instead of full-back for the rest of that season’s fixtures.
5 Go to commentsJust such a genuine good bloke…and probably the best all round player in his generation. Good guys do come first sometimes and he handled the W.Cup loss with great attitude.
2 Go to commentsWord in France is that he’s on the radar of a few Top14 clubs.
2 Go to commentsGet blocking Travis, this guy has styles and he’s gonna make a swift impact…!
1 Go to commentsWhat remorse? She claimed that her dangerous tackle wasn’t worthy of a red! She should be compensating the injured player for loss of earnings at the minimum. Her ban should include the recovery time of the injured player as well as the paltry 3 match ban.
5 Go to commentsArdie is a legend. Finished and klaar. Two things: “Yeah, yeah, I have had a few conversations with Razor just around feedback on my game and what I am doing well, what I need to improve on or work-ons. It’s kind of been minimal, mate, but it’s all that I need over here in terms of how to be better, how to get better and what I am doing well.” I hope he’s downplaying it - and that it’s not that “minimal”. The amount of communication and behind the scenes preparation the Bok coaches put into players - Rassie and co would be all over Ardie and being clear on what is expected of him. This stands out for me as something teams should really be looking at in terms of the boks success from a coaching point of view. And was surprised by the comment - “minimal”. In terms of the “debate” around Ireland and South Africa. Nice one Ardie. Indeed. There’s no debate.
2 Go to commentsThere’s a bit of depth there but realistically Australian players have a long way to go to now catch up. The game is moving on fast and Australia are falling behind. Australian sides still don’t priories the breakdown like they should, it’s a non-negotiable if you want to compete on the international stage. That goes for forwards and backs. The Australian team could have a back row that could make a difference but the problem is they don’t have a tight five that can do the business. Tupou is limited in defence, overweight and unfit and the locks are a long way from international standard. Frost is soft and Salakai-Loto is too small so that means they need a Valentini at 8 who has to do the hard graft so limits the effectiveness of the backrow. Schmidt really needs to get a hard working, tough tight 5 if he wants to get this team firing.
3 Go to commentsSorry Morgan you must have been the “go to for a quote” ex player this week. Its rnd 6 and there is plenty of time to cement a starting 15 and finishing 8 so I have no such concerns.
2 Go to commentsGreat read. I wish you had done this article on the ROAR.
2 Go to commentsThe current AB coaching team is basically the Crusaders so it smacks of wanting their familiar leaders around. This is not a good look for the future of the ABs or the younger players in Super working their way up the player ladder. Razor is touted as innovative, forward looking but his early moves look like insecurity and insular, provincial thinking. He is the AB's coach not the Golden Oldies.
10 Go to commentsSimple reason for wanting him back. Robertson wants him as captain. Otherwise he wouldn’t be bothering chasing him. Not enough reason to come back just to mentor.
10 Go to commentsI had not considered this topic like this at all, brilliant read. I had been looking at his record at the Waratahs and thought it odd the Crusaders appointed him, then couple that with all that experience and talent departing and boom. They’ve got some great talent developing though, and in all honesty I don’t think anyone would be over confident taking them on in a playoff match, no matter how poor the first half of their season was. I think they can pull a game out of their ass when it counts.
2 Go to commentsNot a bad list but not Porecki and not Donaldson. Not because they are Tahs, or Ex Tahs, they are just not good enough. Edmed should be ahead. Far more potential. Wilson should be 8 and Valentini 6. Wilson needs to be told by his father and his coach, stop bloody running in to brick wall defence. You’re not playing under the genius Thorn any more. He’s a fantastic angle runner. The young new 8 from the Brumbies looks really good too. The Lonegrans are just too small for international rugby as is Paisami, as is Hamish Stewart at 12. Both great at Super Rugby level. Stewart could have been a great 10 if not for Brad Thorn. Uru should be there and so should Tupou. Tupou just needs good Australian coaching which he hasn’t been getting. I don’t think Schmidt will excite him.
3 Go to commentsIf he wants to come back then he should. He will be a major asset to the younger locks and could easily be played as an impact player off the bench coming on in the last 30. He is fit, strong and capable and has all the experience to make up for any loss in physical prowess. He could also be brought back with a view to coaching within the structures one day. Duane Vermeulen played until he was 37 or 38. He is now a roaming coach within the South African coaching structures. He was valuable in the last world cup and has been a major influence on Jasper Wiese and other young players which has helped and accelerated their development and growth. Whitelock could do the exact same thing for NZ
10 Go to commentsBrett Excellent words… finally someone (other than DC) has noted that Hanigan is very hard and very good at doing what Backrow should do… his performance via the Drua sauna was quite daunting for those on the other side… very high tackle count… carries with good end result… constant threat to make a good 20-25 meters with those long legs… providing his mass effectively to crunching the Drua pack… Finally he is returning to quality form… way to much injury time over the last 2 years… smart-strong-competent in his skills… caught every lineout throw aimed at him and delivered clean pass to whoever was down below… and he worked hard for the whole 80 minutes… Ned has to be in the top 5 for backrow honors… He knows what is required as he has been there before…
20 Go to commentsI think Sam Whitelock should not touch a return with a bargepole. He went out on a high, playing in the RWC Final. He would be coming back into a team that will be weaker than last years, and might even be struggling to win games, especially against the Boks. Stay in France, enjoy another year with Pau, playing alongside his brother.
10 Go to commentsRyan Coxon has been very impressive considering he was signed by WF as injury cover whilst Uru has been a standout for QR, surprised neither of those mentioned
3 Go to commentsIt’s the massive value he brings with regard team culture/values, preparation, etc. Can’t buy that. I’m hoping to see the young locks get their chance in the big games though.
10 Go to commentsAll good, Gregor, except that you neglected to mention Sam Darry amongst that talented pool of locks. In fact, given Hannah’s inexperience and the fact that Holland won’t be eligible until next year, Lord and Darry might be the frontrunners this year, to join Barrett, Tuipoluto, Va’ii and possibly Whitelock. In fact there might be room for all of them if Barrett played 6 (like Ollie Chessum).
10 Go to comments