US club brings in Currie Cup coach
Huntingdon Beach
October 28, 1999

by Brian Lowe in California Southern California champions, the NEC/Kiwitel Huntington Beach Unicorns who qualified for the sweet 16 play-offs last year have recruited former Easter Province Currie Cup coach Johan Kluyts for the new season.
Club supremo Mark McQuitty vowed last year that he would bring new talent to the club in an effort to make them the "destination club in America" and the appointment of the 42-year-old Kluyts shows he is sticking to his promise.

A former Springbok Under 19 player he replaced Alex Wyllie at Eastern Province in 1995 and although the side had only moderate success over his three seasons in charge he will bring a wealth of experience to his new post.

Kluyts will be one of the most experienced club coaches in the US and claims he simply wanted to give it a go. "I've never been to America before and it's something new. I was told a lot about American rugby and there is a lot of talk going on in South Africa about rugby here so I thought why not give it a chance."

Kluyts plans to adopt a 15-man rugby approach to his coaching because he feels there is still too much gridiron in American rugby and by that he means too many power plays. His opinion is that there is too much brute force being used rather than basic skills to out fox opponents.

The forward thinking Huntington Beach club got their new regime off to a flying start with a convincing win over the touring Royal Australian Navy team in a friendly last weekend in Los Angeles.

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