Paulse to make coaching move
Springbok legend Breyton Paulse is looking for opportunities in coaching and is keen to use this weekend's Sevens Premier League tournament in George as a vehicle to showcase his talents.
The 38-year-old made a spectacular comeback to the playing field at last year's inaugural showpiece in the Garden Route in the famous colours of Kaizer Chiefs, but opted for a coaching role with the same team at this year's event – to be held on Saturday, January 11, and Sunday, January 12.
In fact, Paulse is keen to follow in the footsteps of Kaizer Chiefs head coach, Gcobani Bobo, and become more involved in the technical side of the game.
Bobo made his coaching debut for Chiefs last year and has since been snapped up by the University of Johannesburg's Varsity Cup side.
"It is certainly something that I am interested in and this week will be a good learning curve for me," Paulse said on Thursday.
"I have always endorsed an attacking and adventurous style of rugby and Sevens certainly fits into that mindset, so I am keen to see how I can combine my philosophy into the more structured nature of coaching. Gcobani certainly made good strides after starting out here last year and if all goes well, I might be able to follow suit," Paulse said.
Paulse and Bobo are from a unique group of players who played both 15-a-side and Sevens for the Springboks and this helps a lot in coaching either of the two codes.
"At this stage I will be looking at the Sevens code to start off, so it will be important weekend for me to help the Kaizer Chiefs team towards the title."
The tournament already proved to be a springboard for players and coaches alike, something that pleases tournament promoter, Willem Strauss, tremendously.
"From the start, one of the objectives of the tournament has been to develop players and coaches alike and to give them a platform where they can learn their trade," Strauss said.
"We saw a number of newcomers to the tournament last year, like Seabelo Senatla and Justin Geduld, who slotted in seamlessly to the demands of the high performance IRB Sevens World Series and that was very rewarding for us," he added.
"We also have some high calibre coaches here and I am sure Breyton will benefit tremendously from this outing and experience. We saw the progress Gcobani has made as a coach."
The most successful coach in South Africa in 2013, Pumas and SA President's XV coach Jimmy Stonehouse, will be in charge of The Unlimited Titans, former Springbok Sevens coach Paul Treu is in charge of Kenya and former Springbok Bevin Fortuin will guide hosts SWD Eagles.
Last year's winning coach at the Samurai, Neil Powell, of course succeeded Treu as national coach and has already won an IRB series tournament.
Current Samurai manager/coach Marius Schoeman played for the BlitzBokke in more than 40 tournaments and one of a number of former national players to take over the coaching reigns at their provinces.
Eddie Fredericks (Cheetahs) and Jonathan Mokuena (Living Ball) also donned the Sevens jersey for their country, whilst Roelof Kotze (Sharks) and Pieter van den Berg (Leopards) proved to be the most successful provincial Sevens coaches in recent times, winning the SARU interprovincial title in 2012 and 2013 respectively.
