The Maties Rugby team during a Varsity Cup match. PHOTO: Kevin Sawyer
FNB Maties Rugby head coach Dirkus Hancke, remains positive about his team’s fitness levels and momentum for this season, despite the outbreak of Covid-19 and the related national lockdown restrictions.
“We sent the players a conditioning program that they can follow at home,” said Hancke.
FNB Maties are top of the log, having won five out of five games this season. The last official game that Maties played was against FNB Ikeys (University of Cape Town) on 3 March. The national lockdown came into effect on 26 March at midnight.
The team’s fitness levels and gym work will be up to standard when the time comes to return to the field, said Marcel Theunissen, FNB Maties player who was awarded man of the match in their last fixture.
“We as a team have a good training program that we follow, we keep each other accountable. Mentally our team is strong enough to know that we must keep on working hard and push our limits to become a champion team,” said Theunissen.
FNB Maties Rugby players Nevaldo Fleurs and Matthew Dahl at training before lockdown, making use of the elbow greeting that President Cyril Ramaphosa suggested. PHOTO: Instagram/ @MatieRugby
According to coach Hancke, the fixtures for the rest of the year remain unknown as the virus continues to dictate what will happen in the future.
“We are all missing the team environment and looking forward to taking up our team training sessions again,” said Hancke. The new rugby and academic calendar for the rest of the year would dictate the team’s preparation schedule, he said.
The lockdown period is one that calls for reflection in the context of sports, said Ben-Jason Dixon, captain of FNB Maties.
“This is the period to start working on weakness and giving time to those things we didn’t have time for,” said Dixon.
Coach Hancke proceeded to give a positive message to the public during this challenging time, in which he thanked medical staff, police, fire departments and military for all the hard work.
“Stay safe everyone and please adhere to social distancing. We can better this situation if we all work together. Enjoy the time that you have with your family and make the most of it,” he said.