How the death of a legend turned into team-building for WP

Earlier this week, South African rugby mourned the death of Tom van Vollenhoven.

The 82-year-old, despite only playing for three years in the country before converting to rugby league, is considered a legend of the local game.

Western Province coach Paul Dobson is one of the keenest students of the game, a trait inherited from his father Paul, who’s a former referee and historian.

So it’s not really surprising that he used Van Vollenhoven this week as a team-building exercise before Saturday’s Currie Cup final against the Sharks at Kings Park.

And he did it neatly and respectfully.

“We did a bit of an off-beat thing this week about Tom,” said Dobson.

“This man had an amazing career. He was honoured by the Bulls 62 years after he left them and actually only played about 15 or 16 games for them.

“He then scored 392 tries in (408) games in rugby league for England’s St Helens. He was probably the greatest rugby league player in Britain ever. Yet Tom admitted his greatest career memory was his Currie Cup final because he only played in one.”

Indeed, Van Vollenhoven – then 19-years-old – only played in the 1954 final when Northern Transvaal lost 8-11 to Province at Newlands.

It’s that cherished memory that Dobson hopes inspires his troops.

“There were some great Springboks who never got the chance to play in the Currie Cup final,” he said.

“That’s the message we got across to the players. It’s not designed to put them under extra pressure, its just a way to illustrate to the players that they need to appreciate this experience and enjoy it.”

Not that Dobson is at all worried about Province’s state of mind going into the match.

“This is one of the tightest groups I’ve ever worked with. They are absolutely desperate to win this trophy.”

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