HOMECOMING KING

Having honed his skills – on and off the field – at UWC before a trophy-laden career, Paul Treu has come “home”, eager to teach the art of success

By Robin Adams | Photography: Peter Herring

Crouch. Touch. Paul. Engage.

Words, tweaked ever so slightly, that are synonymous with rugby. And there’s a name in there that is also inextricably linked with the sport.

Paul Treu is a rugby giant. He is a genius. Some of us, who have been lucky enough to have a front-row seat to the master at work, can easily bear testimony to that fact. Whether it’s training sessions or championship deciders, they are approached with the same precision and meticulous attention to detail. Treu is all about “executing the game plan”.

Respected, appreciated and adored the world over, the man from Swellendam has had a truly remarkable journey. And it has the University of the Western Cape right at the heart of it.

For those unfamiliar with his accomplishments, here’s a little refresher:

1990 - 1993: UWC Player 1996 - 2001: SWD Eagles Player 1999: Stormers Player 1999 - 2003: Springbok Sevens Player 2000: Northern Bulls Player 2002 - 2003: Mighty Elephants Player 2004 - 2013: Springbok Sevens Coach 2013 - 2014: Kenya Sevens Coach 2014: Assistant Coach, Western

Province 2019: Western Province

Performance and

Innovation Manager 2020 - present: UWC Rugby Head Coach

Paul Treu has travelled to more countries and burned through more passports than you and I could dream of. And Robert Sobukwe Road is the one stop on his journey to stardom he is most proud of.

The 49-year-old’s adventure from player to celebrated coach is the stuff of legend. And his return to the UWC campus as head coach of its rugby team was nearly 30 years in the making. “I was looking for a different challenge. I thought to myself, I played here [at UWC], the team didn’t do so well in the Varsity Cup competition and I haven’t been a head coach in 15s rugby yet. This is a wonderful opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives, and for them to taste success,” he says.

Talk about coming full circle.

UWC was Treu’s springboard into the Springbok Sevens team as a player, and he eventually became captain of the squad. He says his most memorable moment with the team was winning the Wellington Sevens title for the first time in 2001 under coach Chester Williams, a star remembered for his World Cup success with the Springboks in 1995. Williams’ passing in 2019 plunged the rugby world into deep sadness. And it left the University with the unenviable task of finding a suitable replacement. It had to be someone who not only shared the institution’s values but epitomised its motto – “Respice, Prospice”, to look back, to look forward, to take

THIS IS A WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN PEOPLE’S LIVES, AND FOR THEM TO TASTE SUCCESS

what is worthy from the past and build the future.

It wasn’t a rushed job, either. It took nearly a year to find the perfect candidate. Paul Treu was announced as UWC head coach in August 2020; the rugby gods could not have scripted this one better.

The team is still recovering from a disappointing Varsity Cup campaign last year, but that hasn’t dampened Treu’s optimism. “I must say, the University has really come to the party. All the things I have requested; they really have gone out of their way to make sure that we could put together a support team and the equipment, systems and processes to give the players the best opportunity to do well,” he says. “It’s the first time we’re training with GPS [technology]. We’re recording our practice sessions and we have bought analysis software. It’s about building sustainability. We’ve achieved a lot over the last couple of months.”

Yet, every superhero needs a team of trusty sidekicks. At home, it’s Treu’s wife, Jodie, and their daughters, Schyler and Carlin. At work, it’s an army of stars: sports administrator Clement Trout; Niekie Vijoen, who perfects the lineouts; Lionel Langenhoven, who briefly occupied the position of acting head coach before Treu’s appointment; forwards coach Richard Petersen, whose mission is to attack, attack, attack; UWC women’s rugby coach Aneesha Adams, who also films the men’s training sessions for analysis; head physio Wernich Smith; physiotherapist Robyn Phillips, who can be heard summoning players with what’s become her tagline, “It’s time for your rehab!”; sport scientist Jenna Bam, who carefully monitors each player’s performance levels; Keenan Watson, whose core responsibility is gym conditioning; biokineticists Alice Hlungwani and Kirsten Huckle; Lubabalo Felani, who takes care of the athletes’ onfield conditioning; Dr Byron Haupt, who proudly wears the mantle of sport physician; and Nicolas Kock, the chairman, who Treu says is using his foundation to fund a lot of their initiatives. “He is moving mountains to get us what we need, from nutrition

PAUL TREU HIGHER-LEARNING QUALIFICATIONS

• Masters Degree in Sports

Directorship, Manchester

Metropolitan University • Masters in Educational

Psychology, Nelson

Mandela Metropolitan

University • Honours in Education,

Stellenbosch University • Higher Diploma in

Education, University of the Western Cape

to equipment.”

The team faces two potentially tricky assignments in March: training matches with Stellenbosch Maties and UCT Ikeys before the Varsity Cup kicks off in April.

“Our immediate goal is to stay within the Varsity Cup. This was supposed to be a relegation year but with COVID-19, it’s going to be over two years. So the points accumulated this year and next year will determine who will be relegated.”

Last year, UWC finished second from the bottom. “This year, we want to finish as high as we can,” Treu says determinedly.

Treu’s experience with building teams into successful units, and his exceptional eye for spotting talent, can only benefit the current batch of UWC players who have dreams of one day running onto the field as Springboks. And watching from the sidelines of a training session, the team already looks to be running like a welloiled machine. Treu isn’t one for flashy motivational talks, either, be it at practice or on matchday. “The team talk is always the same. Whether you’re ahead, you always stick to your processes. And that’s all that you can say to the guys. Because they’ve been there before. They’ve done the training; they know the drill. They just need to keep doing what they do.

“On game day, the players need to take charge; they need to take control. If the opportunity to win is there for the taking, we take it. Just keep the faith and keep believing.”

He also says he doesn’t have any pre-match rituals but always ensures he sets aside a couple of minutes for “quiet time to get into the right frame of mind”.

Of course, we’d never encourage underhanded behaviour, but if you wanted to get into the coach’s good books, a cappuccino would be a decent start. “Coffee normally gets me into the zone. A cappuccino. If it’s not a cappuccino, it’s a flat white.”

For a man who’s worn so many hats in his rugby career (he still consults for the Japan Women’s Rugby team in the lead-up to this year’s rescheduled Olympic Games), it looks like Treu has found just the right fit at UWC. As a former student, it was only right we ask him the unfair questions, too, such as if he could add one dish to the UWC cafeteria menu, what would it be?

“My wife’s mac and cheese,” he says without hesitation.

It’s true, Treu is the real deal. Superpowers aside, there’s one chink in the armour — one that will make us all believe he is human after all: He’s no braai master. “I burn the meat every time; I just don’t have the patience.”

That said, a word of caution to opponents who think Treu’s lack of braai skills is his Achilles’ heel: even Superman had kryptonite.