Tabata touts EP Rugby revival plan

Ambitious EP Rugby administrator Monde Tabata is planning a major rugby conference for clubs, where new plans to resurrect the ailing union will be thrashed out.

Tabata said he had given a brief explanation of his comprehensive “turnaround strategy” document when clubs met at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday.

The conference is expected to take place before the end of the month.

“EP Rugby can make it,” Tabata said when asked whether EP could rise and become a major player in South African rugby.

“At the meeting we presented the document and I will be sending my turnaround strategy to all the clubs. It is a thick document so I could not present all of it, but I gave an executive summary.

“The document will be sent to the clubs and we will begin to plan rugby in the Eastern Province and complete all our planning for 2017.

“My message to the delegates today was that we have to learn to maximise our strengths. We are spending an inordinate time on our weaknesses and as a result we cannot see the good in ourselves. Let us maximise our strengths.

“After Saturday’s meeting we have drawn a line and said the past belongs on that side. Now we are moving forward. SA Rugby is here with a specific mandate and everybody must be part of the solution. Let us go forward.

“The more we go on this exhibition of self doubt, the only people who benefit are other unions who want the players.

“The players are told you cannot be in Port Elizabeth. People have to show collective confidence,” Tabata said.

Also present were SA Rugby acting president Mark Alexander and Saru’s Francois Davids, who chaired the meeting.