The Investec International Rugby Academy has kicked off its first high performance course in Pretoria under the guidance of Springbok assistant Dick Muir and some of the leading minds in world rugby.
The list of local and international coaches that will focus on their specialties in the game at this course includes names such as Sean Fitzpatrick, Ian McDonald, Garth Wright, Hugh Reece-Edwards, Christian Cullen, Nick Farr-Jones, Naas Botha, Bobby Skinstad, John McFarland and Springbok coach Peter de Velliers.
And both Muir and Murray Mexted, the managing director of teh the International Rugby Academy New Zealand on which the South African academy is based, are delighted with the progress and commitment thus far.
"It's going extremely well, " Muir said from the University of Pretoria's High Performance Centre, where the first course is being hosted. The course is aimed at every aspect of the game, including mental discipline, tactics and personal fitness, and it involved some of the greatest caches and players in the game sharing their knowledge in a practical environment.
"The players are loving every minute of it and are just taking everything in. It's quite challenging for them because they begin at six in the morning and finish at seven in the evening. So there's been a lot of hard work. Bur you can just see them responding positively to aspects of the game they've never been exposed to."
Mexted was also please with the progress of this opening course, which he believes is the first step towards the Academy harnessing to an even greater extent the wealth of rugby talent in South Africa .
"It's early days, but I am extremely delighted with the commitment from the players and coaches. From what I've seen in the past and over the last couple of weeks, there is an enormous amount of raw talent in this country. You know, 34% of the people (coaches and players) attending the International Rugby academy New Zealand are South Africans."
"We will work hard to provide the same quality here in South Africa and give everyone attending the courses here the opportunity to learn and a grow. This is one very talented nation and the talent should be harnessed right here and ploughed back into local rugby.
The first course will feature a match against TUKS Barbarians team on Wednesdays, 13 April 2009 where the positional coaches will be able to evaluate their players and provide on-field guidance with practical advice after each 20 minute period of play.