Bishops’ legend embarks on a new odyssey
The last three games were rough outings for Diocesan College. Against Paarl Gim, Paarl Boys’ High and Rondebosch, Bishops was put to the test.
Gim and Boishaai are rated first and second in the country in 2025, and Rondebosch delivered plenty of players to the Western Province and Western Province XV Craven Week sides. Yet Bishops fronted up to the challenge.
There was something about them, about the manner in which they met the daunting challenges head-on. They did not fade away. Rather, they grew into those contests.
Against Paarl Boys’ High, they scored their two tries in the last 10 minutes of the game. They also had the final say in the Bish-Bosch derby last week. That never-say-die spirit and resilience was a reflection of their coach.
Bishops Head Coach, Wesley Chetty, began playing rugby in the park at the age of nine. He went on to play the game professionally.
Along the way, he represented Western Province in many different age groups where he leant about the game under different mentors, including John Dobson, the coach of The Stormers.
“John Dobson has to be my biggest rugby mentor,” Chetty revealed. “He coached me for the better part of 12 years of my playing career.
“He also mentored me in terms of my coaching, always willing to share ideas and put his faith in me.”
In 2013, that faith helped Chetty transition into coaching. He joined Bishops as an assistant coach to Dave Mallet and André Jacobs.
Five years later, Chetty, also a Bishops’ old boy, was promoted to the head coach’s position.
While in charge of the school’s 1st XV, he was able to help shape some outstandingly talented players, including Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Suleiman Hartzenberg, Jonathan Roche, Bruce Sherwood, and Imad Khan.
Chetty’s excellence was recognised and this year he was made head coach of the Western Province u19 team.
A former captain of the UCT Ikey Tigers, where he holds the record at the club’s most-capped player of all time, having turned out over 100 times for the side, he has also been appointed the coach of the Varsity Cup champions for their Western Province league commitments after 12 years of coaching at Bishops.
His time at the 176-year-old Cape Town school is over. He’s taking the next step in a distinguished career.
Given his coaching achievements by his mid-thirties, Chetty is a man on whom to keep an eye. Renowned for his rugby IQ, he may yet climb even higher up the rungs of the coaching ladder.
