Jake Mangin, Selknam head coach: “The most important thing is the connection with the community”

This year, Selknam created a surprise with the hiring of New Zealander Jake Mangin. More than 15 years of experience, shared between rugby in his country and Brazil, positions the new head coach of the national franchise as a reference in the region. This Saturday, the coach regretted a 23-25 ​​defeat against Peñarol, in his third Super Rugby Americas match.

The projection goes much further. With Sporty , the strategist talks about his style and expectations “I’ve been here for a year, but we talked about the long term. You have to get results,” he said.

What motivated you in this project?

When the mountain calls, you have to go. My father was a hunter and he told me that. When Pablo (Lemoine) called me, it seemed like a perfect opportunity. It’s exciting to have a director of rugby with so much experience, not only from the World Cup, but from what he has gained around the world.

He is characterized by being an offensive coach, will this be one of the changes he brings to the team?

I think it will happen naturally being here. This is my natural inclination, but we cannot lose sight of those who brought us to be here. Defense is the most important part of our game.

This year the team also suffered many departures, did you expect that?

When I accepted this job, there were people who told me that there were a lot of players coming out, but honestly, I didn’t look at the list of players before I arrived in Chile. It’s important not to have false expectations and not let other people’s opinions dictate how I train. Likewise, it is a great opportunity. Some of our players are only 18 years old.

In any case, I imagine that there are specific objectives…

We are very clear on the results we want to achieve this year and we are also very clear as a staff and a federation on what we want to achieve from a development point of view. We are in the results business so we have to perform and we understand that, but we also have young players who have a great opportunity to develop and develop their game.

What does South American rugby need to close the gap with the great powers?

The first thing is the physical challenge, being physically capable of competing for 80 minutes with Tier 1 or even Tier 2 countries which are already at a very advanced level. The other part is exposing our young people to more competition. Obviously, with the pandemic, there was a two-year hiatus during which not many people were able to play. You need more testing, exposing more players. Here there is the academy and the whole structure, because it is very difficult to come from a rugby club and expect a player to perform on the international stage.

Will the 24-team World Cup contribute to this?

Honestly, I don’t have an opinion on how this would close the gap, but it’s exciting because more teams are going to be exposed at this level. More exposure is better.

New Zealand is immediately associated with a large professional structure, but this comes first. What is the key to achieving this development?

It’s tricky, because in New Zealand everyone plays rugby. The best athletes in the country play rugby, so you have the best. The school system is essential. New Zealand is bigger, so we have more schools and more competitions, for socio-economic reasons everyone also has access to rugby.

Selknam could be the key to massification…

Yes, 100%. I come from training with the Crusaders and the most important thing is the connection with the community. We obviously need to keep playing good rugby because no one will follow us if we don’t play well, but we definitely want to connect more with the community.