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Gurthro Steenkamp: 'There's a lot of cheating going on... dark arts'
By Liam Heagney
Rugby social media influencers are two a penny these days, but Gurthro Steenkamp packs a powerful punch. Unlike the myriad of keyboard warriors creating content from their living rooms, the 2007 Rugby World Cup winner is in the thick of the action as the La Rochelle scrum coach.
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Having initially forged his career as a loosehead at home with the Lions and the Bulls, the South African arrived in Toulouse in 2011 and six buoyant seasons were followed by one for the road at Stade Francais. Retiring wasn’t easy. The now 43-year-old reckons he suffered from depression after losing his identity as a player.
He soldiered on, though, and after earning his coaching stripes down the leagues in France, he is now midway through his fourth season at Stade Marcel-Deflandre and under contract with the twice European champions until summer 2027.
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It’s a demanding gig; the Top 14 grind, as everyone knows, is relentless. However, after his business is done he frequently likes to share invaluable scrummaging insight with his 52,000 Instagram followers. It’s unusual for a coach so embedded in the elite-level game to be so public with his intrinsic knowledge, but Steenkamp doesn’t do it for the likes. Making the game better overall for everyone is his noble cause.
“It goes back to my journey when I was still a player,” he began, pulling up a pew at a training ground office to chat at length over Zoom with RugbyPass ahead of Sunday’s latest glamour Investec Champions Cup clash with the visiting Leinster.
“There were times when I was struggling in the scrum and I didn’t have much resource available. There was no one really to help you. We just had the classic phrases of ‘you need to be more assertive’, ‘you need to be more gritty’. Stuff like that. At times I felt lost.
“I have always had a passion for helping players and that is something I did after my playing career, consulting with teams, consulting with players and mentors, mentoring players and I still continue to do a bit of that on the side. It comes down to this: there are so many youngsters eager to learn. I want the scrum to remain part of the game and it’s all about educating players.
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“That is why I started doing posts educating on the scrum, when the tighthead is cranking, when a loosehead is hinging. It’s not to put fault or put any focus on the referees or anything like that. It’s because I am passionate about that.
“I know it is unusual to share these drills and stuff, but I have had a great career, an unbelievable experience, had some great teammates and it’s just about sharing that passion and sharing that experience because if I can inspire and help a youngster on his way to become a better scrummager, that means the world to me.
“Let’s be honest, nobody reinvented the scrum and it’s not like you can copy and paste it. You can take the same drills but do it at the wrong time, do too many reps. It’s about knowing what to do, so that is one of the reasons I share on social media.
“My priority remains the club so once I have done my tasks in the week and have an hour or two to work on it, I do it. I don’t do it for my image or likes. But there is nothing better than receiving a message from a player or a coach saying, ‘Thanks G, that was brilliant. I never saw it that way, I never understood it. Thanks for clarifying that. I did it with my team, the players are loving it’. It means I am impacting players and coaches from a distance.”
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It’s insight that he feels is timely. “The scrum is an integral part of the game and let’s call a spade a spade: the last two years there is a lot of cheating going on, players reverting to what is known as the dart arts… they resort to treachery. We see a lot more collapsed scrums. Scrums being voluntarily collapsed, whether it is the tighthead or loosehead.
“We brought in the brake foot to add stability to the scrum but we still see so many collapsed scrums. It’s not because there isn’t stability. Players are refusing to take the engage. Players want to try and milk the free kick with the new laws and that’s a tough ask on the referees.
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“When you speak to the referees they don’t have the specialist eye. The referees are doing their work, they are doing their homework and have a way better understanding than before but it’s a big effort that needs to come from everybody. Coaches, players. If we want to keep the scrum integral, it’s important (this happens).”
Steenkamp keeps on top of his brief by mentally testing the props on La Rochelle’s roster. “It’s so important that you get to know your players and for me what it comes down to, it’s not about getting more reps, it’s about getting to know the player, what they need, the extra work-ons.
“It’s about better understanding the mental side of the player and the mental tools for each player are different. For example, I won’t be giving mental skills to Uini Atonio. He’s got it but for a younger player, I’ll give him mental tools and to achieve those you need to do scenario training, what are your solutions if you find yourself in this position?
“It’s working the problem before it happens so when he finds himself in that situation, he knows what the back-up plan is, what the bailout is. At the moment strong teams are coming for us and one thing we have picked up is that if we are not 100 per cent switched on, we pay the price. Scrummaging is all about humility. You can be dominant the previous week but this week you can get pumped.”
Not getting pumped by a Leinster pack with the fit-again Tadhg Furlong named at tighthead has concentrated the mind on the French coast. “These are the games you train for,” enthused Steenkamp. “When I was a player these were the games I wanted to play.
“Playing against Leinster, an unbelievable team, probably one of the greatest in Europe, it’s great to have this type of rivalry over the last few years. They got us the last time they played here. In terms of our mindset, last week’s game was frustrating but we have said to the players there are loads of positives.
?? Together. #SRvLEI | #InvestecChampionsCup | #FievreSR pic.twitter.com/srMCz4QzEP
— Stade Rochelais (@staderochelais) January 8, 2025
“Toulouse chose their third-string side against us, a bunch of youngsters, and just gave it their all. Those youngsters would always give their best wearing the jumper but there are lots of positives, and we went really well against Bath and Bristol. We are ensuring we are hammering on those strengths and those positives to try and build momentum against Leinster.
“As always, it is going to be a tough game. One or two slip-ups you pay the price and it results in points and Leinster, with their rush defence, we really need to be precise on attack… We have Ronan O’Gara here, the whole Munster stuff, but it’s basically just a good rivalry. From our side, there is definitely massive respect.”
It was November 2017 when Steenkamp, the 53-cap former Springbok, played his last professional match. Study followed at CREPS in Toulouse and after coaching stints with Marcq-en-Baroeul in Federale 1 and Colomiers in Pro D2, La Rochelle came calling in summer 2021. This journey from retired player to elite coach wasn’t straightforward, however.
“I won’t lie, it was tough,” he reflected. “I felt like I had lost my identity. If I look back now, I wasn’t diagnosed but I could have some form of depression, I don’t know. I’m not a doctor. That’s why I am in the process of launching a new podcast called Lessons from the Game and the goal is to share the insights, what I experienced as a player and also that transition period. No one prepares us for it.
“I found myself on my own. I knew I wanted to be a coach, a scrum coach, and a scrum specialist, but when I started, it was, ‘How do I start? How do I get work?’ I just assumed that people would work with me because of the player I was and that wasn’t the case. I needed to earn people’s trust, I needed to earn that credibility and I would have liked it if there was someone to guide me.
“That transition wasn’t easy but I realised that as a player I had that resilience mindset pushing through the noise, pushing through tough times and I managed to get through to create opportunities and travel all over Europe doing team-building sessions in the corporate space.
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“It was a team I was working with but when covid hit it was, ‘Sorry G, you’re a consultant, you are on your own’. So I had to upskill. I was doing webinars, learning how to use social media. I went out of my comfort zone.
“When people see me now they think it’s easy and comes naturally but in the beginning, I wasn’t comfortable being online and sharing my message, but that is actually how I got the opportunity here at La Rochelle. The great thing is I have experience at various levels and it’s like I always tell the players, no matter which level you are playing at, it comes down to firstly having the right mindset.
“Talent gets you in the room but you need to really want it. I also try to get across with the players, what is your bigger purpose, what do you want to achieve, why do you want to dominate the scrum, why are you playing rugby? When I was a player I wanted to leave a legacy, I wanted to inspire my community in South Africa and really mark something in history.”
Steenkamp’s determination to succeed as a player and coach in France meant that old haunts in South Africa were off-limits for a considerable time. “I went back last year for the first time in eight years. It just wasn’t always possible but it was brilliant, I wish I was back more.
“Post-playing, I didn’t go back because you have to graft here to take every single opportunity and when I eventually got into the professional set-up again, I was busy. The thing that I like about France, South Africans are passionate people but the lifestyle in France in terms of the meals is important for them.
“At lunchtime, everyone takes a break. In South Africa, you have a half hour. Here you take an hour, two hours. They have their salad, their mains, their glass of wine, the dessert, and then the coffee. They appreciate the simple things in life. Spending time with your family. Spending time with friends. The basic stuff.
20 Years ago ….
Made my debut vs Scotland ??????? back in 2004
Lets go Bokke ??
? @GettyImages pic.twitter.com/bhV4SmokFM
— Gurthro Steenkamp (@gurthro) November 10, 2024
“If you look at how they live, homes are not as big as in South Africa. The French are not too fazed by fancy, it’s more about the quality of life. Don’t get me wrong, I miss South Africa. I love my country, I really do. But my kids are older; my son is 16, daughter is 10. Their lives are here in France. There is where their identity is, so it would be very tough to make them move back to South Africa.”
All going well, O’Gara, the intriguing Irishman, will be Steenkamp’s La Rochelle boss for some time to come. “He is intense but it reminds me of the coaches I had back in the day (as a player) when we won titles and trophies. You need guys who are obsessed with rugby, guys who are geniuses. You can see him constantly thinking about rugby and he is someone who trusts his staff.
“I look at our environment and it’s unbelievable. We trust each other. Everybody gets along and that is the environment he has created. Yes, he is passionate and energetic, but what you see is what you get and I’m appreciative of Ronan.
“If he has a problem he will say it to you and go, ‘Right, let’s focus on the solution, let’s go on’. It’s great to see someone like that involved in French rugby.
“People forget how tough it is for a foreigner to coach at this level in France and the respect that he has earned from the team, the club and the public is unbelievable. When I see the way that the public accepts and welcomes him, it reminds me of my days back in Toulouse with Guy Noves. The people in Toulouse loved him.”
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Great interview.