cAREER

Gary Michael Gold was appointed Springbok Assistant Coach by Peter de Villiers from 2008 to 2011 and was a significant management member of the squad. Together with Backs Coach Dick Muir they formed the nucleus of de Villiers’s staff and went on to win the Vodacom Tri-Nations in 2009 and beating the British & Irish Lions in the same golden year for the Boks, where the Springboks beat the All Blacks a record 3 times in a row and were crowned IRB team of the year as they clinched the Number 1 spot in the world. He was instrumental in managing and understanding the dynamics that saw the team grow and perform consistently. Gold was first brought into Springbok set up by Jake White in 2004 / 2005 to assist in a technical capacity and implement the rush defence which he successfully developed and evolved whilst Head Coach of Premiership side London Irish for 4 years.  

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Gold returned to Premiership Rugby in the UK in 2012 where he took charge of Newcastle RFC for six months while they battled relegation. The team won 8 of their remaining 12 matches under Gold and unfortunately just missed out on the relegation battle by one point in their last match of the season. His skills and prowess in Coaching, structures and organisational management saw another battling English Premiership club Bath take notice and offer him the Position of Director of Rugby and Head Coach. Unfortunately due to an inability to agree the specifics of his role, Gold left Bath after 22 months in charge. In the time spent at Bath, Gold focused on recruitment and team culture to ensure Bath rise to the top of the English game again. When he left Gold’s Bath had no fewer than 12 players called up for England duty (senior and age group) during 2014 Six Nations, and a further 7 full internationals. The team were comfortably 3rd in the Aviva premiership and unbeaten in the LV Cup and Amlin European Challenge with both home Semi and Quarterfinals confirmed. The A team had also won the English competition for the first time ever in November 2013, showing the added strength and depth of the club during his time in charge. 

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Post the Bath stint, Gold was approached to join the Japanese club Kobe Steelers on a 3-year contract, but after his first year, he was approached by former Springbok captain John Smit, who offered Gary an opportunity to be the Director of Rugby at the Sharks Super rugby team in Durban. Known for his technical and analytical brain, astute planning and attention to detail no stone is left unturned as Gold strives for perfection in the harsh world of English professional rugby where 42 weeks of rugby make up the year.   In 2017, Gold was appointed to be the USA Rugby Men's XV Head Coach, an appointment that will lead the team into the participation in the Rugby World Cup in 2019 to be staged in Japan. In his first competition, Gold’s USA Men's XV team won America’s Rugby Championship, by beating all 5 other teams on the competition and to be the first team since the inauguration of the competition to win the ARC Championship by attaining a clean sweep of victories in the championship.

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Gold lives by his mantra of getting the best out of his players, both on and off the field as a Coach and mentor. He has been successful in discussing and presenting his philosophy of “Sport and business” and draws the analogy between these two. “As South Africans our mood is dictated by our teams winning over the weekend and lifting the nation.” His years of Managing and Coaching Rugby at the highest level have made Gold an inspirational leader and an accomplished motivational speaker.