New CEO Rory Duncan eager to bring back Cheetahs’ glory days

Former Cheetahs player, coach and director of rugby Rory Duncan has been lured back to the franchise, this time as their new CEO, which was announced by chairman Ryno Opperman on Wednesday.

Duncan has a storied career with the union, playing for them from 2006 to 2008, and in 2007 he led them to the Currie Cup title as captain.

He returned to them as coach from 2014 to 2017, took over as director of rugby from 2017 to 2018, and then moved onto Worcester Warriors in England.

Third stint

It is thus now Duncan’s third stint at the Cheetahs, in a fourth different capacity, and he admitted he was thrilled to be back and would be looking to take them back to their glory days.

“The main objective here is to get our rugby back on track. We are a rugby club, we are the representative team of the Free State region and our full focus is to get our rugby back on track,” explained Duncan.

“Obviously in order to do that there are a few things that we have to have a look at and change. Our goal is to take the Cheetahs back to a team that is loved and cherished by our supporters. In South Africa there are a lot of people that love the Cheetahs, and we want to win back that support.

“Our vision to is to take our rugby back to a level where we can get that support and also where we can get into an international competition.”

The biggest gripe for the Cheetahs over many years now has been their lack of playing in a competitive international competition, after being dumped out of the Pro14 (now United Rugby Championship) for South Africa’s main four franchises.

Since then they have battled away in the Currie Cup, and in the past few seasons have played in the EPCR Challenge Cup as an invitational team, but that is clearly not enough to sustain them as one of the top teams in the country.

Cheetahs vision

“That is part of the vision. We are competing in the EPCR at the moment, which is an international competition. But we would like to be competing in an international competition like the URC or Super Rugby. I think that is important for our players and our support base,” said Duncan.

“My memories of the Cheetahs are what it was like (in their heyday of Super Rugby) and my goal is to get it back there and take it further.

“There are challenges and there is no hiding from that. But you’ve got two options. You can either run away or we can take those challenges head on, address them and see how we can move forward.

“A lot of bricks have to be put into place. So what we’ve got to do is start from that foundation and start putting those bricks in so that we can prove that we are capable of playing in an international competition. I know it is important for our support base, for us to be playing international rugby.

Rumours have been swirling that director of rugby Frans Steyn, along with another former Bok star in Ruan Pienaar, would be taking over the senior side’s coaching reins from Izak van der Westhuizen, however Duncan was unable to confirm that.

“We are in the process of handling things when it comes to the coaching staff and an announcement will be made in due course,” said Duncan.