UWC's Davids is the mane man
University of the Western Cape (UWC) head coach Deon Davids has been snapped up by the Golden Lions Rugby Union as coach of their Vodacom Cup and Under-21 teams.
Davids, who - up until now - has been in charge of UWC in the inaugural Varsity Shield, will join former Bulls age-group coach Nico Serfontein at the helm of the Lions' Vodacom Cup side.
Davids is no stranger to top-level coaching, having been in charge of the Boland Currie Cup team in 2009. He was replaced in that job by Chester Williams, who suffered a string of poor results in the position and was, in turn, replaced by former Lions coach Eugene Eloff.
The former UWC mentor has had his side playing some exciting, running rugby in the 2011 Varsity Shield - something that he feels will be encouraged by the rest of the coaching staff at the Lions.
As things stand now, UWC are in third place on the Varsity Shield log - six points behind the second-placed FNB CUT and eight points behind the top-placed FNB Wits side. A play-off spot is not out of the question yet, but the loss of Davids will be a big blow to the Western Cape outfit.
Although he has been with the union for a couple of days only, Davids is already clearly excited about working with high-pedigree coaches - such as former All Blacks boss John Mitchell and his assistant, former New Zealand Test flyhalf Carlos Spencer.
"It's only my first week, but we have had some interesting talks already regarding their vision and philosophy about the game.
"I think that it's something that I can identify with and I'm looking forward to being involved here," he told varsitycup.co.za.
Golden Lions Rugby Union CEO Manie Reynecke explained that the plan was that Davids and Serfontein would coach the Vodacom Cup side together for the interim, after which Serfontein would move on to a different role within the union developing their structures.
He told rugby365.com: "We have to expand our coaching corps; it is part of our long-term strategy and fits in with our structures that we are developing.
"Obviously he comes with a decent track record, so we are happy to have him involved here," he added.
By Michael de Vries
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