John Dobson is a South African

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

coach, currently the head coach of

Super rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

side .

Career

Playing career

As a player, Dobson played as a hooker for , as well as amateur club sides in the Western Province Super League such as , Villagers sand Northerns. He also had spells in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

at Valpolicella Rugby Club and

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UCT Ikey Tigers / Roma

He was the head coach of the for their first three seasons in the

Varsity Cup Varsity Cup is the collective name for four South African rugby union competitions involving the top rugby playing universities in the country. It was launched in 2008, with eight teams participating in the Varsity Cup competition and each univers ...

competition from 2008 to 2010. He guided them to the final in the inaugural 2008 season, where they lost to

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

rivals and helped them reach the play-offs again in

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, losing 17–19 to in the semi-final. Dobson was appointed as the technical director of Italian National Championship of Excellence side

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

for the 2009–10 season. He was due to coach new Italian franchise

Praetorians Roma The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

in the

2010–11 Celtic League The 2010–11 Magners League was the tenth Celtic League season and the fifth with Magners as title sponsor. The regular season began on 3 September 2010 and finished on the weekend of 6–8 May 2011. During these stages, each team played every ot ...

, but their inclusion in the European competition never materialised, with Benetton Treviso being included instead. He returned to South Africa to guide UCT Ikey Tigers the final of the

2010 Varsity Cup The 2010 Varsity Cup was contested from 1 February to 29 March 2010. The tournament (also known as the ''FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International'' for sponsorship reasons) was the third season of the Varsity Cup, an annual inter-univer ...

, where a repeat of the 2008 final also saw the same result, with Maties winning their third title in succession.

Western Province Under-21 / Vodacom Cup

In 2010, Dobson was appointed as the coach of the side and he helped them win the 2010 Under-21 Provincial Championship in his first season in charge, as they beat the s 43–32 in the final in

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. He returned as a technical adviser to his former assistant Kevin Foote for the UCT Ikey Tigers' 2011 Varsity Cup campaign, which they won for the first time, beating 26–16 in the final. He also took over 's

Vodacom Cup The Vodacom Cup was an annual rugby union competition in South Africa. Annual Vodacom Cup competitions were played between its inaugural season in 1998 and 2015 and was contested between February and May each year. The Vodacom Cup was the succes ...

team and helped them to a quarter final spot in

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, where they lost 19–21 to a . In the second half of the season, his Western Province Under-21 side reached the semi-final of the

2011 Under-21 Provincial Championship The 2011 ABSA Under-21 Provincial Championship was contested from 15 July to 29 October 2011. The tournament featured the Under-21 players from the fourteen provincial rugby unions in South Africa. Competition Division A There were seven partici ...

, but Dobson lost out to the same opposition, with the s winning the match 19–12. Western Province won the

under Dobson's tutelage for the first and only time in

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, beating five-time champions 20–18 in Kimberley. Dobson reached another final with the Under-21 side, but they fell short in the

2012 Under-21 Provincial Championship The 2012 ABSA Under-21 Provincial Championship will be contested from 13 July to 27 October 2012. The tournament will feature the Under-21 players from the fourteen provincial rugby unions in South Africa. Competition Division A There are seven p ...

, losing 13–22 to the s. The

2013 Vodacom Cup The 2013 Vodacom Cup was played between 9 March and 18 May 2013 and was the 16th edition of this annual domestic cup competition. The Vodacom Cup is played between provincial rugby union teams in South Africa from the Currie Cup Premier and First ...

saw Western Province again reach the play-offs, but they lost 25–44 to eventual champions the in the semi-finals, but Dobson had more success at Under-21 level, winning the

2013 Under-21 Provincial Championship The 2013 ABSA Under-21 Provincial Championship will be contested from 12 July to 26 October 2013. The tournament will feature the Under-21 players from the fourteen provincial rugby unions in South Africa. Competition Group A There are seven part ...

, beating the s 30–23 to win their second title in three seasons. An exit in the quarter final stage of the

2014 Vodacom Cup The 2014 Vodacom Cup was played between 7 March and 16 May 2014 and was the 17th edition of this annual domestic cup competition. This edition of the Vodacom Cup was played between fourteen provincial rugby union teams in South Africa from the Cu ...

(losing 8–13 to the ) was followed by a run to the finals for the Under-21s; however, they failed to defend their title, losing 10–20 to the s. Dobson once again guided Western Province to the final of the Vodacom Cup in

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, but were defeated 7–24 by the who won their first Vodacom Cup title. In total, Dobson guided Western Province to the Vodacom Cup play-offs for five consecutive years between 2011 and 2015, winning the title once. He also guided the Western Province Under-21s to five consecutive play-offs between 2010 and 2014, winning two titles and ending as losing finalists on two occasions.

Western Province Currie Cup

In February 2015, Dobson was appointed as the head coach of 's

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

for the 2015 Currie Cup Premier Division, taking over from

Allister Coetzee Allister Coetzee (born in Makhanda) is a South African rugby union coach and former player, currently in charge of the Namibian national team on a part time basis, whilst also head coach of Rugby Rovigo in Italy. He served as the head coach o ...

, who departed to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

to take over at the

Kobelco Steelers The Kobelco Kobe Steelers are a Japanese rugby union team owned by Kobe Steel, and based in Kobe. They were the first ever Top League champions when the League started in the 2003-2004 season. The team rebranded as Kobelco Kobe Steelers ahead of ...

. In his first season of charge, he guided Western Province for the Currie Cup final – their fourth consecutive final appearance – but they fell short, losing the final 24–32 against the . In 2016, Dobson's Western Province finished in top spot of the

2016 Currie Cup qualification The 2016 Currie Cup qualification series was a South African rugby union competition organised by the South African Rugby Union which was played between 9 April and 23 July 2016. It featured all fourteen South African provincial unions plus the f ...

series, winning thirteen of their fourteen matches during the competition.

Personal life

Away from the coaching field, Dobson holds a Law Degree, a master's degree in Business Administration and another one in Creative Writing, which he attained at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

. He is the founder of the

365 Media Group 365 Media Group is a now dormant sports media company that once employed over 100 people in Leeds, England and Cape Town, South Africa. Between 2001 and October 2006, the company was known as and grew through the acquisition of a number of busi ...

and th
Rugby365 website
He is also an author and so far published two novels, ''Year of the Gherkin'' in 2012 and ''Year of the Turnip'' in 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobson, John South African rugby union coaches South African rugby union players Living people Rugby union hookers Western Province (rugby union) players Year of birth missing (living people)