Barker confirms another staff exit to Orlando Pirates

Stellenbosch head coach Steve Barker has confirmed that Ruan Rust, who has served as the club’s Head of Performance for the past five years, will be leaving to join Orlando Pirates.

Rust is the second member of the Stellenbosch staff to make the move to the Buccaneers in recent months, following the recruitment of Devon O’Brien.

After Stellenbosch’s 1-1 draw with TS Galaxy on Wednesday, Barker acknowledged that Rust’s departure is a significant loss for the club, but expressed his support for the 33-year-old, who he said had received an opportunity he couldn’t turn down.

“Yeah, look Ruan our head of performance,” Barker said when asked about Rust’s exit by iDiski Times. “And I was telling the players when we said a bit of a farewell yesterday, that all the players want to play in Europe or play in the English Premier League, maybe staff want to work in English Premier League and that.

“But I think in the whole club, he of all, he is world class, and he has the ability to work at the highest of the highest levels.

“It’s obviously a great opportunity for him, yes, a loss, but at the same time, we’ve built a really firm friendship. Then when you see people advancing and you know, he’s got a young family, a young kid that was born a couple months back, and this type of opportunity is an opportunity that he couldn’t turn down.

“So again, you know, we wish him well. We do have Rodet Yila from Spurs that has come in, also very, very competent and of high quality. So it does afford him the opportunity to do more and step up.

“But ja, we wish Ruan well, he’s served the club exceptionally well.”

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