While the Vodacom Cup heads towards two very competitive semifinals this weekend, one small story that will go unnoticed will be the rise of a top young new coach in Peter Engledow, who will take Griquas into their big showdown with the Pumas in Nelspruit confident of victory.
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Even though they ended second, Griquas will face the top Northern side while the strange seeding determination of the competition means that third and fourth placed sides in the north, the Lions and Blue Bulls will face each other at Loftus on Saturday.
But for Engledow, the journey to take Griquas forward has been a different one, and one you don’t often hear about in South Africa.
Having coached at Tableview High in Cape Town, he and his family moved to England to experience Europe 11 years ago, and found immediate success at the Rugby Football Union, becoming a top English development officer and “coach trainer” for eight years.
“I worked for the RFU for just over eight years, “ he explained, “It was my job to train up coaches, especially in the case where players would want to become professional coaches around the country and I worked in that role.”
In between he coached Bishops Stortford, a national second division club and worked with a number of junior teams in the national league in England, slowly building his CV in the process.
It was here where his rugby knowledge flourished, and Engledow managed to make a range of contacts that may be a key part of his success well into the future.
Engledow says his two rugby mentors are Basil Bey and Brian Ashton, and he had the chance to work well with these two as he learnt the trade from the bottom up.
“In England it was great, I had access to the UK coaches and they imparted a lot of knowledge to me, which eventually got me back to South Africa,” Engledow says.
He then met current Toyota Cheetahs assistant coach Hawies Fourie at a high performance coaching course in New Zealand and spent time with him in 2009 before the British and Irish Lions took on the Cheetahs in a tour match.
“Our friendship grew and we spent hours communicating and sharing communication, swopping ideas,” Engledow adds.
When Fourie was appointed Griqua coach, he immediately contacted Engledow to come back and join him, taking over the coaching role while Fourie is on Vodacom Super Rugby duty.
It was a tough choice as Engledow had just finished an unbeaten run at a schools festival with St Josephs College, one of the most prestigious rugby schools in England and in his own words ‘was on a good wicket there.’
But the lure of South Africa eventually got him back, where he wanted his children to experience what he had as a child.
“It worked out well, but it was a difficult decision. My main focus was to give kids opportunity in Africa – I wanted them to experience what I had.”
Since then Griquas has done well, and are readying themselves for a crack at the Currie Cup Premier Section again.
“When I started the season the coaching team had already been put together by Hawies and we had 13 new players under contract, but in a short space of time we have come together to produce the results and what is important is to get the belief back. I’ve loved my time in Kimberley and have been overwhelmed by the friendliness of the place.”
And if he can continue on this path, Engledow can prove that young coaches have a path to the top in South Africa, as currently the glass ceiling for them is there with so many entrenched in their jobs at Vodacom Super Rugby level.
If Griquas can get a result this weekend against a strong Pumas side, they will have a home final in Kimberley.
That would be the cherry on top for Engledow, and make his return to South Africa a success.