Earlier this week Mr. Bruce Lesur, Captain of the 1989 XV Rugby Team, Liaison to the Old Boys’ Rugby Committee, Past President, and longstanding member of the Maritzburg College Old Boys’ Association Executive Committee, interviewed our Maritzburg College Director of Rugby, Mr. Hendre Marnitz, on the upcoming 2024 Rugby Season.
Looking back at your first season (2023) as our Director of Rugby, what are your views on rugby at Maritzburg College?
2023 was an exciting year for College. We fielded close to 30 teams every weekend, we had some great exchanges and the A-teams took part in some impressive rugby festivals. We were also very proud of the 1st team going undefeated at Goldstones in 2023.
How has the 2024 pre-season been going?
The boys have really worked hard 3 times per week 05:15am gym sessions, 2 times per week after noon gym sessions and 3 times per week field sessions in the afternoons. Several of the boys have been busy with summer sports, so we hope to have everyone back at training soon.
What are your views on the 2024 season ahead?
I think 2024 will be a very long and rigorous season. We start our season off next Saturday, the 9th of March, and finish the season off in September with the 7’s Series. We have some big KZN derbies, these local games are becoming more and more competitive every year, with more KZN schools running Semi-Professional Rugby Programmes. Our Interprovincial Fixtures are one of the toughest lists in the country: Battles against Grey Bloem, Paul Roos and Affies, just to name a few, will really test our boys!
How have you found the experience around the College Campus?
There’s a real buzz of excitement on campus, the boys can’t wait for rugby season to start, we start our season off away vs Kearsney, and then our first home game will be against Clifton.
What are your long-term plans regarding rugby at Maritzburg College?
Recruiting. We want to start an academy at school focussing on 11–13-year boys. The aim will be to get the best boys around Pietermaritzburg to come and experience College rugby, develop skills, and then join our school in a year or two.
Conditioning. By having a junior and a senior gym, we will be able to have more boys come and work-out at our High-Performance Centre. We will reap the rewards, as more boys will be better conditioned than ever before.
Up-skilling coaches. We are hoping to bring in a couple of high-profile coaches to share their knowledge with our staff.
What are the challenges with schoolboy rugby?
I currently see 3 major issues in schoolboy rugby:
1) Transferring from boys to different schools. The two main reasons are disgruntled parents and offerings of full scholarships for school fees, boarding , books , clothes and even added flights/transport to the deal.
2) Reckless bursary programmes offered by some schools. There are schools handing out 20 bursaries per age group for rugby alone.
3) Several schools encourage their boys not to do summer sports and focus on rugby alone.
How do you keep and improve the level of rugby at MC?
1) We are in the process of setting up a junior gym. The gym will be resistance training only.
2) We started with pre-season rugby in September 2023 with the sole focus on skill development.
3) The school gym is open 3-times a week at 05:10am.
4) In the summer, we have high-performance squads training on Fridays. This has not been done in the past.
Where do you think the school should position itself so that a scholar leaves as a well-rounded College Boy?
For us Maritzburg College is an educational establishment firstly. We want boys to take part in different sports, and then we want boys to experience the full College experience on all levels.
How important has funding become to keep up with schools that give huge scholarships, and what is your view on this practice?
To provide some context on rugby scholarships: In 2023 the primary Craven week was held at college; more than 20 schools sent representatives here on recruiting drives. The common practise, unfortunately, now is that the best schoolboys decide which one of the full bursaries (free boarding & school fees) appeal to them the most. I personally spoke to a parent that told me they must choose between 8 schools all offering a full scholarship in 5 different provinces. I do not agree with the practise, but we cannot compete with elite schools if we do not run similar programmes.
Our programme cannot survive without funding, we spend the funds that we have on the following:
1) Good external coaches
2) Rugby equipment
3) Up skilling our coaches. (We bring in pro coaches to coach our coaches)
4) Upgrading gym equipment
5) Extra staff in the gym
6) Paying for a physiotherapist
7) Recruitment drives (out of town)
8) Bursaries
9) Video analysis software
10) Help needy boys pay for exchanges & tours.
On behalf of Bruce Lesur, Rugby liaison to the MCOBA Executive, thank you to Hendre Marnitz for his insightful commentary on the 2024 Rugby Season. Wishing you and your teams all the best!
For any Old Boy questions or comments, do contact Bruce directly: bruce@branxholme.co.za