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Writer's pictureTEL AVIV HEAT

The Godfather – Paul Day Brings 40 years’ Rugby Experience as the Tel Aviv Heat’s Scrum Doctor


From left to right: Paul Day, Kevin Musikanth, Nimrod Kaplan and Amir Beautlar


Renowned scrum doctor Paul Day has joined the coaching staff of the Tel Aviv Heat, bringing a wealth of experience from his involvement with rugby since the early seventies.


Before entering the coaching ranks, Day excelled on the pitch as a top prop, first at world famous rugby school Bishops in Cape Town, then over 150 games for University of Cape Town (UCT IKEY TIGERS), and another 50-plus games for Villager, South Africa’s second oldest rugby club. In between, Day played for SA Universities, the SA Navy, WP Defence Force, and Western Province B during the WP glory years.


After finally hanging up his boots, Day has emerged as one of the world’s leading scrum coaches, developing unique insights and instructional approaches over the last 20 years, starting at UCT, where he still serves as scrum coach, before taking on similar roles at WP Currie Cup, Israel’s National Team, Villager RFC, and numerous schools, including Bishops, Wynberg, St Johns and King David. Day has also been called upon as a consultant to the Springboks.

Day is one of the most experienced Varsity Cup coaches, having seen UCT’s pack to six semi-finals and four appearances in the finals. Twice, UCT beat the odds to win the Varsity Cup title, including the famous comeback of 2014 where the IKEY TIGERS clawed back a 18 point deficit in the space of 7 minutes to beat PUKKE (University of Potchefstroom) in a game labelled as one of the greatest rugby comebacks of all time.

The Tel Aviv Heat is very fortunate to have the services of Paul for the upcoming season. Understanding that the strengths of the Georgian and Russian teams is certainly their scrumming abilities, Paul is a vital cog in the Tel Aviv Heat’s rugby armoury.

Outside of rugby, Paul owns and manages a fertilizer business, and is married with three kids and four dogs.


Paul Day on being the Tel Aviv Heat Scrum Coach:

I am looking forward to the challenge of the Super Cup. I like the Tel Aviv Heat rugby model – I think rugby is evolving and the philosophy of the club seems sound. I am relishing the challenge of constructing an efficient scrumming unit, from players from many different countries in a short time frame and seeing how they perform in unfamiliar conditions. Most front rowers will tell you that they are experts up front, I have realized that despite many years in the scrumming game, you still learn with every scrum. I am thrilled to be involved in such an exciting venture…


Kevin Musikanth on Paul Day:

I am going into my 9th year of involvement with The Godfather. Paulie is without a shadow of a doubt one of the best scrum coaches globally. He absolutely lives for the scrum. Most of the teams he has been involved in have been successful and have started out with packs that were under dogs, ending with packs that not only hold their own but in many instances are dominant. The Tel Aviv Heat will be the 7th team that Paul and I will coach as a partnership. We have done many matches together and have forged a tight coaching partnership and friendship over the years. The Journey of Rugby does this. I have no doubt that Paul will be a standout coach in the Super Cup...


2014 Ikeys miracle win against Pukke:





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