Various key members that form part of the Rugby Department at SA Rugby held a media briefing on 8 March in Stellenbosch to ensure members of the public that South African rugby is on track with becoming a powerhouse in world rugby in all forms of the game!
Lynne Cantwell, High-Performance Manager: Women’s rugby, talked about the depth the women currently have with their 7’s and 15’s rugby squads. It is also noted that the women's 15 team will go shortly on tour to play against Spain, Canada and Wales. The women’s-sevens team currently has a training camp in Stellenbosch, where the aim this year is to “move from the challenger series to the core series. As well as perform well in the African Cup so that we can qualify for the Olympics.”
After not having “found a profile coach yet,” according to Rassie Erasmus, Louis Koen looks forward to coaching the women’s 15 side. He especially said: “There are a few new players with new strengths, and I cannot wait to get to know them.” Erasmus mentioned that there has been a huge improvement since 2017 in South Africa with women’s rugby and again emphasized that it is the second priority after the Springbok men’s rugby team.
Having first talked about women’s rugby, the focus was then shifted to the men’s side. Jacques Nienaber said that now was the perfect time for a training camp with some of the Springbok players, as the Six Nations are currently underway meaning that some of the international clubs are also without their international players. This training camp was already planned for February 2022. It is divided into two, four-week periods. The first four weeks were seen as a resting block, followed by a four-week developing block – starting in Cape Town and finishing in Stellenbosch.
These sessions included all training as per usual, but Erasmus mentioned that they also did some different sessions. This includes a session by Jaco Peyper, referee, that helped the players to understand the important topic of head contact and how to adhere to the rules. Erasmus talked about his conversation with Nigel Owens, the referee, as he asked him for advice on how to approach World Rugby since Erasmus wants to restore his relationship with them and learn from past errors.
Nienaber explained the structure is well in place for the Springboks to achieve success at the 2023 Rugby World Cup. “Everyone is aware that it is knock-out stage rugby from the start.”
Some other coaches that shared some information on where they are now included Bafana Nhleko, Junior Springbok coach, stating that the Junior Springboks will have their first alignment session this Saturday, 11 March.
Sandile Ngcobo, Blitzboks coach, talked about his team’s current struggle with form and the fact that they have lost 15 players due to injury in such a short space of time. Still, the main goal is to end in the top 4 positions in the World Rankings to ensure that they qualify for the Olympics.
Louis Koen, High-Performance Manager, is very excited for the schoolboy rugby season ahead as he explained the talent identification model that they follow to help them reach as much promising schoolboys as possible.
Lastly, Banks Yantolo, manager of South African referees, is very pleased with how our current referees perform in world rugby especially since we are the country in the United Rugby Championship (URC) with the most referees in the competition.
Article by Ané Havenga
