It's half past nine in the morning and Naas Botha is learning a little bit more about India.
It's just 10 days since the Springboks rugby legend and SuperSport analyst took over as coach of the Indian rugby men's and women's sides on a short-term appointment. He's trying to find his way around the spicy food palate, the unforgiving subcontinent summer and a team still coming to grips with the sport's traditional, high-contact format -- Fifteens.
At the KIIT International School ground in Bhubaneswar, the backs are lined up in groups of four and Botha hollers at them to keep their shoulders to the ball. The women's national team group -- who have been bred on Sevens, the fast-paced, free-flowing form of the sport -- made their Fifteens debut only last May. Set-piece intricacies are as alien to them as Botha's legacy.
A former fly-half who turned out for Northern Transvaal and South Africa and was voted Player of the Year four times between 1979 and 1987, Botha is starting at ground zero in his sessions with the squad. "You see, my philosophy as coach is to talk to players as if they know nothing," he says. "If I assume they know everything, I shouldn't have to talk anymore. I'd expect results."
Though he has previously coached at the university level back home in South Africa and was team manager for the national side during the World Junior Championship in 2002, helming a side in a country where rugby isn't the most worshipped sport is a first.
For the women too, much like Botha, this is a huge transition. Used to open-space play in Sevens -- a format suited for smaller, faster players and involving very little scrummaging -- the Asian Championships in little over a month's time will be only their second competitive appearance in Fifteens. It's also Botha's sole focus right now. He makes no lofty promises of overhauling the status of rugby in a developing country where September's Rugby World Cup has no broadcast takers yet, instead much like his approach toward teaching the sport, he wants to begin at the base. "You've just got to get them to love the sport. If they love it, they can do it so much better."
Excerpts from an exclusive interview with ESPN:
On what prompted him to take up the India job
I've been working in India for a while now and meeting up with rugby guys. We started discussions around December last year and when they asked me if I could come and assist I thought to myself, 'Well, it's not a bad idea.' I returned here around end of January, then we had a discussion, I met with Nasser [Hussain, general manager of Indian Rugby Football Union,] and the board, and when they asked me if would be interested, my first question was, 'What will it entail?' And they told me about the tournament which was supposed be around April-May but now it has been pushed to June and maybe a long-term involvement too. I said, 'Why not?' It's nice and exciting. When I arrived here two years ago I was told there's no rugby. I thought that's impossible. Later on I met some rugby folks in Mumbai and realized there're quite a number of schools that are playing and I helped Mumbai for the National championships and worked with them a couple of days and thought there's no reason to say no to this.
On his impression of the teams so far
We were with the men's team in Haryana for a week and it was fun. I'm one of those guys who doesn't make predictions and tell people how successful we're going to be or that we're going to change Indian rugby. No. I'll just take it day by day. What I saw in the guys was that there's quite a bit of talent, they're quite skilful and they understand rugby, which is the most important bit. The women, they're easily adaptable and understand quickly if you explain something to them. They know how to catch and pass, they now need to learn how to kick [essential in the 15s format].
I've been analyzing rugby now for 25 years, so I've seen all the cultures and have always had some ideas. Rugby has been in India for over 200 years, so it's not like it's a new thing. At the end of the day, rugby is rugby -- whether you play it in South Africa or New Zealand or India, it's all the same. It's not reinventing the wheel. I did a bit of research and thought who would be the better guys to bring with me. Firstly, we needed someone who understands fitness in the rugby context, so I brought Jannie [Brooks] and then decided on a guy like Christiaan [Buitendach]. In the end, if you ask me, it's only because I love the game. That's all. There's potential. And let's see. Let's take it step by step. That's far more important than to come in and make too many noises.
On the lack of international tournaments played by India
At the moment I'm not thinking about it [the lack of international tournaments]. My only focus is, 'Okay, they have some games to play. Let's see how well we can prepare them.' I'm one of those guys who feels we should keep our mouths shut and go and play. That's the attitude we should have. Of course, we need to understand who we're playing against and what their strengths and weaknesses are. But I'm a great believer that when I play somebody I play according to my plan, so I don't need to worry about their plan. Sometimes you can't do that because you're not good enough, then you need to adapt and need to be smart, and I'm looking forward to find out how good they are. I think there are some guys we have, and I'm dead serious when I say this, they can surprise couple of people in Europe and South Africa. There are some really smart guys. Our job is to see if we can get that into a competitive team. Then results would look after themselves.
On the importance of visibility of the sport and the lack of it in India
It's very, very, very important. Why do little boys here love cricket? Because they watch the IPL. I watched the IPL every day here. We even went for a match in New Delhi. We're now Delhi [Capitals] supporters. So for people to see rugby on TV will get them interested. I've always said people need to see the game to feel any interest in it. I want to be honest and say we're still in the beginning phase, so it's not like I know everything about Indian rugby. We'll learn as we go along. The World Cup -- it needs to be really represented strongly in India.
You've got 1.5 billion people. You need to find 15 rugby guys. But I gather it's not that easy, else everybody would do it. You have to make kids love rugby first then they would like to get involved but stay involved over a long time. Sevens is played here in over 800 schools I think, but I'm a 15-a-side guy. I'm a guy who loves Test cricket. IPL I just watch for the razzmatazz and vibe. But Test cricket and test rugby is what I love. So somewhere along the line they need to get exposed to the 15s at an early age, that's where we must work with the union. Let's just hope we can assist in making it fun. That's the most important thing.
On a longer stint in India
I've been travelling in and out of India for two years now and we did some pilot programmes in New Delhi and Mumbai. If you can sort me out the food, I can stay for a long time in India. I'd actually be quite happy to be here. It's different. It's totally different and I don't know anything about India. I'm working with SuperSport in South Africa. It's the best place to work in... I love my work but we'll manage. Planning will help.
On the question of player size working against newer countries
It can. But you take what you've got and be smart about it. If you've got big guys, there's a way you can play; if you've got smaller guys, there's another way you can play. There's Japan. They beat South Africa in a World Cup game. Definitely not the same size, that I promise you. But they did. I believe that the modern game has moved too much into the physicality but sometimes being a smart rugby player is maybe the better one. I know there're a lot of cultures who would disagree with me. They would like the size. I would say take whatever you've got. If you don't have the biggest guys, you can't cry about it. It won't solve the problem. Somebody asked me when will India be at par with South Africa in rugby? And I was like, 'Wait, you talk about cricket, it's a different ball game. Rugby too is a different ball game'.
Let's keep reality in the conversation of rugby in India. I'm still trying to figure out where India is. Are we in beginning phase? And I think to myself it's impossible. We have tournaments here that are over 200 years old, so definitely we're not starting out. I think somewhere along the line rugby just got a little sidetracked. I'm still trying to understand why that happened and why certain regions have more interest in the sport than others. So let's see if we can get it back on track.
On what his laundry list for India would look like
First, get the best players available. I believe work and study commitments have kept players away, but that's something players themselves have to sort out. We can't do much about it. Great facilities are another necessity. Nice fields to practise on uplifts the spirit of everyone around. Get happy faces on a park. Guys must buy into ideas. You can have the best ideas but if no one's buying them, you're going nowhere. The guys should start believing that they can. That's far more important than anything else. Over so many years of looking at games sometimes I'm amazed and think, 'Okay, so why doesn't this side do it like this or do it like that?' And then you realize it's a lot easier said than done. You can prepare the team in the best way ever and then they lose by 50 points and you go, 'What the hell happened here?' Hopefully you won't ask me that question in a month's time.