This weekend, new Springbok Sevens coach Sandile Ngcobo starts his career in charge of the Blitzboks in one of the harshest environments possible - the Hong Kong Sevens.
The tournament that has never seen a South African victory in its illustrious history will be the first port of call for the man who has taken over from Neil Powell, and of whom sevens fans know precious little.
But for those who have worked with Ngcobo, it will be the culmination of a career that was nearly ended before it began as a talented youngster who played at every age level for the Golden Lions packed it up at the age of 22 and threw his rugby boots into the dustbin.
Ngobo was a frustrated player back then.
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His career seemed to be going nowhere, even though he had been the scrumhalf to Springbok Elton Jantjies at junior level, and played alongside Dimitri Catrakilis the next year, it seemed like a dead end. He needed to make ends meet and decided that rugby wasn’t for him. He bought himself a bakkie and started working as a courier at OR Tambo airport, none the wiser that his road back to the game would happen quicker than expected.
“I was literally working for myself. I took my life savings and bought a bakkie and started working for myself at the airport,” he laughs.
A chance meeting with Wits coach Martin Scheepers changed things, and Scheepers convinced him to return to Varsity Cup action, which he did. From there, the Valke coaches spotted him at a game and invited him to play for them. Ngobo played consistently for the Valke from 2012 to 2015 when he was spotted and snapped up by the SA Academy team.
BLITZBOKS DEBUT
Ngcobo made his debut for the Blitzboks in Wellington, New Zealand and was in and out of the squad, while behind the scenes building a reputation as a fitness specialist and helping both with the coaching and fitness drills.
“My career eventually ended easier than I thought. I was more behind the scenes, coding and scouting for the team. I was preparing training sessions. Marius Schoeman did a great job integrating me in the Academy setup. The beautiful thing is the guys I scouted at that time, I’m now coaching them, so it is a full 360 - we met when they got here, and they graduated so quickly but now we meet again.”
STIX
Ngobo is affectionately known as “Stix” - because of a famous pair of shorts he received from now Springbok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick.
“I was still 19 years old and they were playing a warm-up tournament and I was playing for the Lions club side and yeah, he gave me a pair of shorts. I rocked up with it the following week for the Lions training sessions and the boys gave me a lot of grief. Pieter Visser, who was the manager of the Bok Sevens back then started calling me Stix because of the similarities between Mzwandile and Sandile and I rocked up with those shorts.
“I was 19, I thought I was the next best thing since sliced bread and so it stuck with me. The funny thing is I’ve actually still got those shorts somewhere. I must show Mzwandile them sometime, I never wore them after being ribbed again. He will actually laugh about it when he hears this.”
MASSIVE CHALLENGE
Now leading the Blitzboks into the Hong Kong Sevens is a daunting task but Ncgobo has seen it before. He was assistant coach to Marius Schoeman back in 2018 when Neil Powell stayed in SA to concentrate on the Commonwealth Games campaign, and ended up helping the side to a third-place finish.
“I’m excited. There are obviously nerves as well, but more in battle and preparation mode and excited,” he says.
“I’ll excited when I get to the field, but for not it is more about making sure we’re all on the same page. If you think of Hong Kong, you need no motivation, but then again it doesn’t matter where we play right now, we just play to our potential.”
Hong Kong hasn’t been kind to South African teams but Ngobo believes the team can exceed expectations if they perform to their potential.
“I think every tournament is a challenge and obviously we’ve been successful everywhere else and this is one tournament we want to be successful in. But to be honest, right now we are in a place where we just want to go out and maximise our potential. Once we do that, the results will take care of themselves,” he explains.
Ngobo isn’t looking to compare himself with his predecessor Neil Powell, but says the same standards drive him in his coaching career.
“One doesn’t want to compare themselves to coach Neil. He was brilliant and just how he worked so hard to build his own legacy in the system, he laid a great foundation for me. I’ve been coached by him and with him, and he left this beautiful foundation for myself and Phillip Snyman. You don’t want to compare yourself. You’re driven by the same standards and you want to build onto that.”
INTROVERT
Describing himself as an introvert, Ngcobo believes he isn’t shy of taking the lead with the Blitzboks, but also says he isn’t looking to reinvent the wheel.
“I’m definitely not shy for those things, I’ve been enjoying being behind the scenes and I’ve been scouting for the Springbok Sevens as well as working with the Academy boys and with coach Neil. I’m no stranger, and I’m not afraid of coaching at this level and being known. I’m definitely an introvert on some level but not scared of competing and being seen in that spot.”
He knows opposition coaches will be watching closely to see what tricks he has up his sleeve.
“That’s the sweet science of the sport, they learn about you and you learn about them. That’s the fun part and part of the enjoyment of this game. Someone is going to figure you out and make your life a bit more difficult for your team and your tactics. You need to adapt. That’s the beautiful thing about this game, it keeps evolving and you are going to need to keep evolving at every chance and in every season.
“I’m not going to reinvent the wheel. It’s more a case of putting in a different tyre. It’s the same wheel but you need a fresh tyre. We want to introduce some more faster players, and the system may lose a few players, but we have good replacements for those positions and want to introduce faster, exciting younger guns as well.”
But Ngcobo knows the challenges will be tough and the expectation great. But he is ready to take it on.
“I’ve always been the underdog. I’ve realised I’ve always had to work a little harder than other guys and I’ve enjoyed it. It builds a resilience and it builds a foundation that is a bit different. I know nothing comes easy, everything you have to work for and we’re going to work hard.”
And with that attitude and the experience he has, the Blitzboks are in good hands.