‘It’s personal’ Ackermann says of Vodacom Bulls job

This is personal.

That’s the clear message from Johan Ackermann, the new head coach of the Vodacom Bulls.

It’s as personal as his memories of playing Carlton League rugby with Vodacom Bulls legends in the Police Rugby Club – or the Bobbies as they’ve always been known in Pretoria – on bitterly cold winter nights. Of running up and down the Loftus Versfeld stadium stairs for training while playing for this team. Or running out the tunnel at Loftus wearing a Springbok jersey for the first time.

But mostly, it’s the memories of what rugby means to the people of the capital city and what the Bulls mean to their fans – from the big-name city schools to smaller rural schools and from homes in Pretoria to farms in Polokwane.

“It’s massive. It’s personal. It’s hard to put into words how the rugby culture in Pretoria and around the Vodacom Bulls is just so different to anywhere else. It’s a privilege to be back in this rich culture of rugby. The Vodacom Bulls give people something that they can go back to work on a Monday and be proud of,” says Ackermann.

Ackermann’s deep understanding of the culture of this team is one of the biggest attributes that he brings to the role of head coach. It will blend well with his own highly-regarded ability to develop culture within any team where he has worked.

“I have a simple philosophy of treating people the way I like to be treated. That’s my foundation. For me as a coach, it’s about finding out how each player likes to be communicated to. Maybe I was fortunate that in my playing career I experienced a lot. I experienced being injured, not being selected, the highs of being selected. So I try to feel the joy and the sorrow or the pain of that player, because I’ve experienced it. And when we’re on the field we work hard but off the field we have to have fun.”

When it comes to the players, there is no doubt in Ackermann’s mind that this Bulls team already has all the talent it needs to convert three Vodacom United Rugby Championship final appearances into a trophy.

“This team has talent and I believe we can play any style of rugby we want. We can play the traditional Vodacom Bulls style and be physical and have good set-pieces but we also have the quality to attack and play all the spaces that the opposition gives us. My philosophy is to play an exciting and attacking brand of rugby and be positive and score tries. And we have to acknowledge that what the Vodacom Bulls have been doing must work. They’ve beaten good sides and reached play-offs. I do feel there were moments where I would probably want to change a few things tactically and once I get the use of the players and understand our strengths as a team, you can then bring your own flavour in. This has been a quality performing team for the last few years already, so that is a challenge for me to make sure we keep performing with the quality of this squad.”

As for finding the final piece to the trophy puzzle, Ackermann says he’ll first look where he always does when starting with a team.

“If something is not quite clicking, then I normally look at the team’s values. If as a team you’ve put out certain values at the beginning of the season and one of those is not going well, then it will reflect on the field. It’s not about chasing the outcome or the result or the position on the log. It’s about looking and seeing if there is something small we’re not doing as a team. Finals are such small margins and I’ve experienced losing finals. It’s very difficult to judge the outcome of a final from the outside if you haven’t been involved in that week’s preparation with the team for the game. Then from a tactical point of view it's about going back to the principles of the game and seeing what we’re missing. It’s about what we control now – the next training session, the next scrum, the next breakdown.”

There will be the challenge of managing this squad across various competitions, as is the norm for the modern-day coach. There will be the challenge of the always high expectations on this team. But it’s exactly these pressures that Ackermann believes is the privilege of the Bulls and the standards this team has always set.

“The expectation is high and it brings a different pressure on this position. You can feel there’s not a lot of room for error. But I can only be myself and enjoy this and through that we can keep that standard going.”