‘Springboks carry the torch’ – SA Rugby announce coach restructuring, ’emulating’ Black Ferns as attack guru takes top Bok Women’s job

SA Rugby has announced several key changes to their coaching structures with ex-Melbourne Rebels boss Kevin Foote and former Springboks coach Swys de Bruin recruited.

The new hires are part of a new restructuring process of SA Rugby’s High-Performance Department which saw Dave Wessels being appointed as General Manager after Rassie Erasmus stepped down from his Director of Rugby role to become the Springboks head coach again.

SA Rugby’s restructures coaching ranks

Former Springboks coaching consultant De Bruin has been appointed as Performance Coach in a new-look Springbok Women coaching team in preparation for the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup in England next year.

He will be assisted by Junior Springboks head coach Bafana Nhleko who has redeployed from the SA U20s to the senior women’s fifteens team. Current Springbok Women assistant coaches Franzel September and Laurian Johannes-Haupt will remain in their roles.

Meanwhile, former Springbok Sevens captain Foote has returned to South Africa following the collapse of the Melbourne Rebels, where he was the head coach, and has been appointed as the Junior Springboks boss replacing Nhleko.

SA Rugby state the changes to the national teams have been made “in a bid to emulate the success enjoyed by the Springboks”.

SA Rugby’s CEO Rian Oberholzer says the changes were part of the restructuring process aimed at achieving specific targets as part of a four-year strategic plan.

“We have obviously targeted winning the Rugby World Cup in 2027 for the Springboks, but we also have goals for other national teams,” said Oberholzer.

“We expect to see the Junior Boks winning the World Rugby U20 Championship at least once in a three-year period, for the Springbok Women to climb the world rankings to be in the top eight, and the Blitzboks to consistently medal at major events.”

“We expect our national teams to deliver more consistent performances”

Foote takes over the reins at the Junior Boks who finished seventh in the World Rugby U20 Championship earlier this season while the Springbok Women are currently ranked 12th in the world. Meanwhile, the Blitzboks only qualified for the Olympics through a repechage play-off but did manage to secure a Bronze medal in Paris.

“We expect our national teams to deliver more consistent performances and as such, we started a restructuring process that is part of a significant overhaul of the High-Performance Department,” said Oberholzer.

“The Springboks carry the torch and do very well, but we need to see improvements from all our other national teams, including the Junior Boks, Blitzboks and women’s teams.

“As part of this drive, we appointed Dave Wessels as General Manager to oversee the process of restructuring our high-performance teams and these appointments are the first steps in the process.

“Dave joined us in March and has been working hard with all the relevant role players to see where we’ve fallen short and what we can do to ensure we provide all our national teams with what is necessary to be successful. More appointments will be made in due course.”

Emulating the Black Ferns

On De Bruin’s appointment and the redeployment of Nhleko, Oberholzer said: “We are investing in women’s rugby, not only at national level, but in the provincial structures too.

“With the forthcoming WXV 2 tournament and the participation in the Women’s Rugby World Cup next year, we are in a solid position to boost the growth of the game and with the experience and expertise Swys will bring to the coaching ranks, we can expect a boost in on-field performance as well.

“Bafana is an experienced coach and has been with us for more than six years and we feel it’s time to utilise his skills with a senior national team. We have high regard for him as a coach and conversations with him about a move to the women’s game started a while ago. He and Swys know each other well and we’re confident that, along with Laurian and Franzel, they will take our Springbok Women’s team forward.

Oberholzer added: “In feedback we received from within the local coaching ranks, a need for mentors was identified. Having been involved in top level coaching for decades, it’s something that comes naturally to Swys, and is a role he is keen to embrace and he will provide valuable guidance to Bafana, Laurian and Franzel.

“In a way, we are emulating what New Zealand did with Wayne Smith with the Black Ferns, where a key part of his job was to mentor the next generation of coaches. As a part of the restructuring process, more appointments will be made as we look to further invest in, support and develop our coaches.”