Maccabi rugby promises unbridled competition

The South African squad will show their flair and skill at the M21 Maccabiah Games this month, but will they bring home the coveted gold and make it six out of 10?

SA will perform against America, the current cup holders, Israel, Australia, and Great Britain.

Preparations began five years ago with Jewish South African rugby on an upward trajectory. Then, the pandemic hit and Maccabi 2021 was suspended until 2022. It was touch and go whether the multi-talented 25-member squad would participate in the games. Without the financial investment of Brett Levy of Blue Label and Jonathan Ackerman from Pick n Pay, this massive undertaking wouldn’t have become a reality.

The new head coach of Maccabi SA is former Stormers coach Robbie Fleck, assisted by Gary Gold, former Springbok assistant coach. Fleck, the fearless Springbok centre from 1999 to 2002, competed for Western Province (WP), the Stormers, and Bath in England. He won gold with SA in 1989, and a silver at the 1997 Maccabiah.

Gold is currently head coach of the American national team, the Eagles, and has also coached in England and Japan. He will be travelling 18 hours to be at the Maccabiah!

Anton Chait, former WP flyhalf and head coach, is team manager. Besides winning the Currie Cup in 1989, Chait won a gold at the Maccabiah in the same year, and captained the victorious SA team in 1993. He favours a player-driven approach in which players, with management, decide the way the team plays and take ownership of discipline on and off the field.

This may be the difference between winning and losing in the final. Chait would have preferred more time together with his squad, but with the players travelling from different cities, they will practice only once in Johannesburg before leaving for the games.

The physiotherapist and conditioning/strength coach is Johan van Wyk, who is involved with the SA Under 20s and Sevens rugby squad (Blitzbokke). The convenor is Brad Berger, a former South African rugby league player (2004 -2007), who with Cliff Garrun, the chairperson, have worked tirelessly.

Every year, Maccabi rugby sends a team to the Cape Town 10s tournament. Jewish rugby has been on a quest to improve, with King David High School Linksfield’s (KDHL) two rugby squads, its first XV and Under 14s having won the annual Pirates School Challenge recently.

Four of the Maccabi SA players performed for TAH. They are flyhalf Jordan Chait of the Sharks, Maties (Stellenbosch) Varsity Cup winner, and SA vice-captain; prop Jared Sichel, who has played 30 tests for Israel and Hamiltons in Cape Town; front rower David Geffen of False Bay Rugby Club; and at flank is Thomas Berman, from Wits Varsity Cup. The other five players who have experience of Maccabiah conditions include Dylan Coll and Nicholas Zille (Pirates); Kym Hirshowitz of Crusaders (Durban); Kiernan Rabie of Manly Marlins (Sydney); and Brandon Sweet (Marr and currently Boroughmuir Bears) in Scotland. Sweet also represented Hamiltons, WP Under 21, and CRAV (Clube de Rugby de Arcos de Valdevez) in Portugal. They won gold in the sevens and silver in the 15s for SA at the last games.

According to Berger, Maccabi has secured a “couple of big names” playing professional rugby in Hacjivah Dayimani, the DHL Stormers flank and new SA captain, who performed brilliantly in the United Rugby Championship Grand Final in a fairy-tale 18-13 win over the Vodacom Bulls.

He makes his debut at the games with the following players: Kian Davis from UCT Varsity Cup at centre; Shauli Asayag, Dean Gordon, Jay Reiback, Jake Rosen (all UCT); Richard Bryant, Judd Silverman, Brad Van Niekerk of TAH (all Pirates); Dylan Hirshowitz of Naka Bulls (Pretoria); Joshua Pimstein (Wits); Jason Hirschovitz of Crusaders; Brent Shone (Hamiltons); Aston Silver of Wanderers; Tom Walker from Stellenbosch, who is the captain of the Sevens squad, and fellow Matie Stephan Annandale, who played for SA Schools.

With the opening ceremony at Jerusalem’s Teddy Kolek Stadium, the rugby final at Wingate Institute in Netanya will be televised live by an American sports channel. The sevens event will be held over two days before the opening ceremony.

The 15s SA were originally drawn to play Great Britain, however the organisers amended the fixtures, with SA now meeting Israel in its first game, a day after the opener. This should prove to be a challenging encounter.

Kevin Musikanth, former Maccabi SA head coach, is the head coach of TAH and Israel, with Nimrod Kaplan assistant coach.

Kaplan won a historic gold in 2013 as a player for Israel in the Maccabiah. Like his father, Milton, and brother, Yonatan, Nimrod has captained Israel. As a player, Musikanth won gold for SA in 2001. Former South African Julian Shapiro, the longstanding Israeli manager, has participated in all nine Maccabi rugby events.

The core of the Israeli squad represented TAH in the European Super Cup in Russia, Georgia, Portugal, and Israel, making it to the semi-finals. No fewer than 19 Israelis competed in SA, culminating in an invitational Loftus squad (Pretoria’s top club teams) at Loftus Versfeld narrowly defeating the Heat 33-29.

Former Maccabi SA and Heat flyhalf Daniel Stein will play for Israel in his second Maccabiah. Most of the Israeli players are Sabras. Israel took part in two Sevens tournaments in Europe to qualify for the World Cup, where it achieved sixth and eighth place respectively.

Says Musikanth: “It looks like Jewish rugby is growing. It will be an extremely cut-throat Maccabiah, and I look forward to seeing all our friends from around the world in Israel in July.” With Musikanth, Kaplan and Shapiro the “Blue and Whites”, like SA, have a formidable technical team.

The manager of the Americans is former Capetonian Barry Seidel, who is no stranger to the Maccabiah, having managed in 2013 and 2017. He is one of the main investors in TAH with Michael Aron, originally from Johannesburg. Seidel’s wife, Suzanne, will make it a hat trick as US rugby physiotherapist.

Israel has been playing competitive test and professional rugby. Could it be the managerial skills of a Fleck/Gold/Chait treble, or the US under new head coach Taylor Howden, with an American national player in the squad?

The Aussies are surely in with a chance as former Waratah’s centre, David Horowitz, played for the Australian Under 20s and for Connacht in Ireland. He and his two brothers will be playing for Maccabi Australia, and will surely provide momentum for the “Jewish Wallabies”.

Shawn Lipman, a former South African and American Maccabi rugby stalwart, believes “there’s no favourite, with all five teams in with a chance”.