Look beyond results to value Roelof Kotze’s impact on UAE rugby

After years of it seeming a chore, Kotze has made playing for UAE seem like a treat. That is a substantial achievement, writes Paul Radley.

UAE rugby performance manager Roelof Kotze, is leaving to start a new job with the Pumas, a provincial rugby side who play in the Currie Cup. Antonie Robertson/The National

UAE rugby was suffering a prolonged slump when Roelof Kotze arrived in the country at the turn of 2014. At first, the new performance manager struggled to arrest it.

In his first competitive engagement, the national team lost against Singapore in their only Test of the year, meaning a second successive relegation. The sevens side, meanwhile, were struggling to win matches at all, let alone competitions.

Judged on elite level results, Kotze has had a middling tenure. Runners-up in this year’s Asian Championship Division 1 and seventh place on the sevens series are not exactly luminous highlights.

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But his influence on the game here far outweighs the bare statistics. After years of it seeming a chore, Kotze has made playing for UAE seem like a treat. That is a substantial achievement.

When he arrived, there was a general ambivalence about representative rugby. National selection was good for a bit of stash, but there was not much honour in getting whacked every game. Many of the leading players opted out altogether.

The atmosphere surrounding the national set-up is entirely different now. The key players are standouts at Premiership level, which was not always the case before, and their enthusiasm for the job is spreading through the club game.

That can be traced back to Kotze. One tactic he used was to actively engage people of great rugby pedigree who were on his doorstep.

It meant the players who attended UAE training could send excited messages to their mates telling them they had just packed down with Steve Thompson, and were able to pick the brain of Apollo Perelini.

For a side in the nether reaches of the World Rugby standings, these are remarkable coaching resources.

The ambience engendered means the players, as sevens captain Niall Statham puts it, are “passionate about the cause” – regardless of who the next coach is.

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