The Springbok Women’s team has received a massive boost in the form of new performance coach Swys de Bruin, the former Lions boss and assistant coach at the Springboks.
De Bruin was at the Lions when they enjoyed a halcyon period that included three Super Rugby finals, and he was one of Rassie Erasmus’ original assistants in 2018.
Lately, De Bruin has been an analyst with SuperSport, and his return to coaching is a big boost for the national game as the Bok Women look ahead to next year’s World Cup in England.
The New Zealand Silver Ferns were transformed into world beaters when former All Black coach Wayne Smith took them under his wing, and it is hoped De Bruin can do something similar with the South African women.
SA Rugby confirmed De Bruin’s appointment as performance coach for the Springbok Women on Wednesday, and the experienced mentor has already had a first WXV 2 training camp in Gqeberha.
“It is great to be back with SA Rugby after being involved with the Junior Springboks and Springboks in the past, and I cannot wait to start the World Cup journey with the Springbok Women,” said De Bruin.
“This is also an opportunity for me to live my other passion, being a performance lead to other coaches, something I have been involved with in the last five years.”
Early days as @WXVRugby prep starts, but the mood is GOOD! @fnbsa #BokWomen pic.twitter.com/vrsC0EtbRU
— SA Women's Rugby (@WomenBoks) August 22, 2024
De Bruin was impressed with the input received from his coaching staff – Laurian Johannes-Haupt, Bafana Nhleko (who moves from the Junior Springboks) and Franzel September – as they started to prepare for WXV 2 and the Women’s RWC.
“We are playing five matches in the next two months, and we had to hit the ground running, so it is good that there are good foundations in place and there is no need to reinvent the wheel,” De Bruin said.
“I was impressed by what I heard from Franzel and Laurian in our first week together, while my relationship with Bafana started a long time ago at the Lions, where he won national titles at age-group level – and I know we will all work well together.”
The Women's Rugby World Cup is back and bigger than ever. 📷 @RugbyWorldCup#RWC2025 #ThisEnergyNeverStops pic.twitter.com/oSN34Fz8sZ
The camp in Gqeberha aims to align rugby strategies and game plans with their newly-appointed coaching staff, spearheaded by De Bruin.
De Bruin, Nhleko (defence), September (line-outs) and Johannes-Haupt (scrums) have started working in earnest to mould the Springbok Women into a competitive outfit for their immediate task ahead – a warm-up match against the Barbarians Women on September 7 (a curtain-raiser to the Boks v All Blacks clash) and a Test match against Spain on September 19 – before WXV 2, where they face Japan (September 27), Australia (October 5) and Italy (October 12).
Swys de Bruin is keen to take the #BokWomen to new heights and live one of his passions of being a performance lead to other coaches - more here: https://t.co/gIp11ygqer 🫡#MakeItCount #ETTIG pic.twitter.com/mV9lA2rSam
— SA Women's Rugby (@WomenBoks) August 22, 2024
Four uncapped players were named in the training squad of 44, who will attend a national training camp for the first time, while the rest of the group all featured in the past two seasons, as well as nine regulars from the Springbok Women’s Sevens team.
Nombuyekezo Mdliki (Border) and the Sharks trio of Amanda Ndlovu, Nobuhle Mjwara and Vanessa Holmes were called up after impressing the coaching staff during the recently-completed Women’s Premier Division.
The camp concludes next Friday. A squad of 36 players will then travel to Cape Town to fine-tune their preparations for the Barbarians match.