The late Australian cricket legend Shane Warne once said a coach was only useful to drive the players to the field. In rugby, the bus takes the players to the field but the coach influences what they do on that field.
The DHL Stormers coach John Dobson is a primary example of how the right quality of coach can transform a playing style, a team’s results and the development of a player.
Damian Willemse, the hottest property in world rugby in 2022, could have picked his club in Europe, the UK or Japan.
Willemse on Friday was confirmed as having signed a five-year contract extension with the Stormers. The DHL Stadium and Cape Town is where Willemse wants to play the best years of his career.
It was a decision much influenced by what Dobson has achieved at the Stormers with his playing philosophy, player identification and player management. Dobson has entrusted and empowered his assistant coaches and consistently acknowledges their worth to the success of the Stormers.
Dobson’s approach to the style of the Stormers has allowed for Willemse’s natural talent to flourish in a system that is like poetry to his skill set.
Other players like flyhalf Manie Libbok have also looked a class apart from when they played at other regions and in a coaching system that stifled their qualities.
The Stormers, the inaugural Vodacom United Rugby Championship winners in 2021/22, are getting a lot right with player identification and their connection to the people of the Western Cape.
The Stormers are representative not of a multiracial unit but, more significantly, a nonracial set-up in which every culture, religion and heritage has equal standing.
It has been a joy to observe the evolution of a squad that is the most transformed and most successful in the Stormers’ 26-year history. They are a team, many from the region, with the greatest understanding of the region and its rugby history.
Dobson has been at the heart of it all. He is Capetonian and his late father, rugby historian and referee Paul Dobson, will be beaming from a high at the work of his son.
Jake White’s impact at the Vodacom Bulls is another example of the difference a coach makes to a team. The Bulls were a mess before White arrived back in SA from Montpellier in France.
White is one of the best examples of how the quality of the coach determines so much about the success of a rugby team. White showed this at the Brumbies in Australia, at Montpellier, in Japan, at the Sharks, with the Springboks between 2004 and 2007 and now again at the Bulls.
Jake White’s impact at the Vodacom Bulls is another example of the difference a coach makes to a team
Rassie Erasmus did the same with the Cheetahs, the Stormers, with Munster and with the Springboks. Erasmus and White both led the Springboks to World Cup glory in 2019 and 2007 respectively. They both inherited a mess, and the turnaround was remarkably quick.
Johann Ackermann did the same at the Emirates Lions. They were hopeless and were relegated from Super Rugby after a 15% success rate in 20 years. Ackermann rebuilt a squad that would play in three successive Super Rugby finals and host one of them.
The All Blacks this season were a shambles, especially up front. They axed the forwards coach John Plumtree and the attack coach Brad Moar. The replacements, Crusaders forwards coach Jason Ryan and former Ireland coach Joe Schmidt, instantly made a difference and the All Blacks ended the Rugby Championship as champions.
There has never been enough recognition in a fledgling professional sport like rugby for the value of the right head coach. The best ones are not paid nearly enough.
• Mark Keohane is the founder of keo.co.za, a multiple award-winning sports writer and the digital content director at Highbury Media. Twitter: @mark_keohane
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