Amanzimtoti Rugby in good hands with appointment of new coach

With another bone-crushing season looming, there are high hopes for Amanzimtoti Rugby Club’s first team with the appointment of Mark Cameron, 52, as coach. “It’s always a privilege to be involved as a coach at any level. Given the responsibility to guide the club into the future and working towards becoming one of the top clubs in Durban is a massive honour, so I was really delighted and excited about the challenges that lie ahead.”

Mark is no newcomer to the orange and black, being involved as the backline consultant for both the first and second teams last season. “We expect to be very competitive as we rebuild for the future. We want to be a very fit team that plays rugby for both players and spectators to enjoy. We have set our goals and will work hard to achieve it. We want to improve hugely as a team from where we ended the 2019 season, on and off the field.

“As the only premier division club south of Durban, we have a responsibility to the community to ensure our rugby is played at the highest level, and to develop our local talent and mold them to be successful in doing so. We have a five-year plan that we are working towards. First phase is the 2020 season. Part of our plans is to get an U20 side to play in the Frank Norris (U20 A) League. This will assist the club hugely going forward, as these young players move into senior rugby. We have a good junior system that will assist us in doing so.”

There were concerns at the end of last season when a number of top players left Toti for other clubs, but management reckons things are looking up, as they have been blessed with a number of new talented players. Mark said he plans to do things differently to departing coach, Jeff Harper who has joined College Rovers for the 2020 season. “There is always room for improvement.

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We have increased our management team and brought in experienced passionate coaches who will focus on various areas. We appointed Johan Oberholzer as a forwards coach who will look after both first and second teams, a strength and conditioning coach as well as Tony Wilson as a speed and agility coach.

We have amended our training sessions to ensure players train at high intensity under pressure for the duration of the training sessions, do field sessions involving kills and conditioning and focussing on certain elements of the game, techniques and so on. We will also be changing our structure to suit the way we want to play.”

Other coaching staff include Jason Hines (seconds backline coach), Heinrich Beeslaar and Charles Young (third team coaches), Riaan Vosloo (speed and agility coach), Ferdi Oosthuizen (U20 coach) and managers Johan Meintjies (firsts), Eddie Wepener (seconds) and Lee-Roy Britz (U20).

Mark was born in Pretoria and matriculated at Durban North College. After school he studied law through UNISA. “I never really wanted to be involved in coaching. I have always been passionate about rugby, so coaching was a natural path to choose once I got older.”

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He is happily married to Marie, his childhood sweetheart, and they have been blessed with four children – Neels, 22, Justin 22, Kyle, 19, and Makaylen, 10. The rugby teams he follows are the Springboks, Sharks, Munster and Saracens. “I love all sport and will watch anything. I do, however, prefer watching cricket and soccer. I don’t have much time to relax between work and coaching, but when I do, it will be spending time with my family.”

Mark is a marketer and head of rugby at Kingsway High School since April 2019. He is a World Rugby level two (Sharks Rugby Union) coach, who has completed an Elite Coaches course at the Investec International Rugby Academy and coach development stage one course at the Rugby Academy Ireland. He has coached Sharks Youth clubs, DRSU, Varsity Shield, Premier Division and Frank Norris teams.

It was an early start this year for the boys, with pre-season training kicking off on Monday, 6 January. “It has been going great. The boys have taken positively to the new season, where we want to go and what we want to achieve with loads of energy and enthusiasm. Their commitment and work ethic has been great and the spirit between the boys is very good. There is definitely a new buzz around the field, and it’s great to see.”

Toti trains on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6pm to 7.30pm. If you are new to the area and would like to join, visit the field at Hutchison Park. The first team will play against first and premier division clubs for pre-season friendlies and be in action for the annual Flya tournament hosted by College Rovers. They kicked off their hectic season with a double-header against old foes Collegians in the Gold Cup on 29 March and on 4 April in the Moor Cup.

Asked why the Toti faithful should continue to support the first and second rugby teams, Mark said: “We are a community club with strong family values. We strive to do our best and give back to our loyal supporters. There is no better way than to let the young men express their support to the community and love for the game, than playing rugby in front of our supporters, home and away. There wouldn’t be much to play for without our local supporters behind us and we value their support every time we take the field.”

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