‘The people at SA Rugby won’t listen,’ says Paul Delport outgoing SA Women’s Sevens coach.
FORMER Blitzboks star Paul Delport reckons SA Rugby “don’t give a sh!t” about their Women’s Sevens programme after resigning from his position as coach of the Sevens ladies team on Wednesday.
Delport’s comments are interesting as they come at a time when SA Rugby is pouring resources into the Women’s Fifteens game and no stone was left unturned to prepare the team that is currently playing in the World Cup in New Zealand.
But according to Delport, it is a different story with Sevens.
He says: “It is pretty simple for me. There were 16 teams at the Women’s Sevens Rugby World Cup. There are 13 teams that are full-time professionals. There are three of us who aren’t — South Africa, Madagascar and Colombia, and we finished 14th, 15th and 16th.
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“It’s pretty easy. I don’t need to explain this and the people at SA Rugby won’t listen. I’m not willing to work for people who don’t care about our women’s sevens programme.”
“I don’t understand. Women’s rugby is where it is at the moment, where all the growth can happen. And we don’t want to invest, which doesn’t make any sense.”
Delport said he had heard that there is to be a sevens programme for next year but he had not been consulted.
“I have not been privy to that,” Delport said. “I’ve been asking for the same thing for five years and I got nothing that I’ve asked for.”
Delport said he had been forced to lie to his players about SA Rugby investing in women’s rugby.
“(SA Rugby) don’t give a s**t. I’m resigning because I can no longer peddle a lie to talented young women.
“I’ve got these women asking me, ‘Paulie, what should I do? Should I sign here or should I go overseas?’
“I don’t think it’s fair for a national coach to be telling players they shouldn’t sign here because there’s nothing going on. Unfortunately, that’s the truth.
The XVs team, meanwhile, face Fiji in their second World Cup match in New Zealand on Sunday at 6.45am. They lost their first match to France 40-5.
Additional Reporting by Mike Greenaway
