The South African Rugby Football Union is bringing a new dimension to Bokke training - computers - to re-enforce their pursuit of excellence and utilise the effectiveness of modern technology by appointing Hewlett-Packard as the official IT supplier to SARFU and Springbok rugby team.
Members of the Springbok rugby squad have been equipped with notebook PCs from Hewlett-Packard South Africa, which has been appointed as the official IT supplier to the South African Rugby Football Union (SARFU) and the Springbok rugby team.
"Our vision is to use the latest technology to improve our game," says Butch Watson Smith, Springbok commercial manager. "This is why we`ve given all our players a notebook computer.
"It`s early days yet, but the plan is to download video analysis of planned moves, individual performances and matches so that the players can study them at their own pace. We`re only just starting out on this analysis, but that`s the way we`re heading," he says.
HP South Africa has supplied a total of 35 HP OmniBook XE3 notebooks to SARFU. The XE3s are a new generation of sleek, all-in-one notebook PCs designed to be easy to use, yet featuring powerful graphics and integrated communication capabilities.
"Like virtually any sport, rugby training can only benefit from using the latest technology aids," says Lynette Chen, marketing communications manager of HP South Africa.
"HP is proud to be associated with the Springbok`s move to the greater use of computers not only as a coaching tool, but also as a means of improving communications between SARFU, the coaches and themselves as well as their families, friends and fans."
Springbok coach Harry Viljoen initiated the whole move to "computerise" the Bokke. The players will also be able to use their notebooks to track their training progress and physical development.
"As important will be their ability to receive and send e-mails while on the move," says Gary Grant, marketing director, SARFU.
"We see these notebooks as another means of ensuring we can communicate with our players in a professional way as and when we need to wherever they are in the world and across the different time zones. It will also make it easier for them to keep in touch with their families."
SARFU will also use the notebook to communicate with the other national teams and coaches and is investigating other computer-based projects for the provinces.
"You can`t ignore modern technology. You have to see how you can use it to improve all parts of the organisation. From SARFU management`s point of view, we see notebooks as absolutely essential and we see our alignment with HP technology and its quality products as key to our further use of computers in modern rugby, says Grant.
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Hewlett-Packard Company - a leading global provider of computing and imaging solutions and services for business and home - is focused on capitalising on the opportunities of the Internet and the proliferation of electronic services.
HP has 85,400 employees worldwide and had total revenue from continuing operations of $42.4 billion in its 1999 fiscal year. Information about HP and its products can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.hp.com.
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