Koen takes reins as Bok women’s team prepares to head for Spain

It is perhaps the area in SA Rugby in most need of a kick-start, and to that end Louis Koen has been appointed interim head coach of the Springbok Women’s team for their tour to Spain later this month.

Koen a highly proficient marksmen off the tee for the Stormers, Cats and the Springboks in his playing days has played in the kicking and skills space as a coach since.

Koen, an interim appointment, will take charge of a coaching unit that also features Junior Springbok Women’s coach Laurian Johannes-Haupt who will be his assistant on the trip.

Johannes-Haupt, who was the first woman to be handed the reins of a national team in 2019, is a former Springbok and stalwart in the Western Province set-up.

She will take charge of the forwards in Spain.

Koen, SA Rugby high-performance manager, has coached the country’s premier women’s team before on an interim basis when he took a national Select XV side to the UK in 2017.

The team showed some improvement last year but are still ranked a lowly 11th in the global scheme of the things.

SA Rugby hopes the tour to Spain, which includes two Tests in Madrid against Canada on March 25 and Spain on April 1, will kick-start a new era for the national team.

“We are very committed to seeing a steady improvement in our women’s performances and getting top-class coaches on board is imperative in achieving that objective, but as we’re still in the process of making a permanent appointment, we’ve decided to hand the coaching reins for this tour to two very capable people who are already in our structures,” said SA Rugby’s director of rugby, Rassie Erasmus.

“Louis brings a wealth of experience as our high-performance manager who has been overseeing our junior structures and elite player development programme, while he has also assisted the Junior Springboks in top-class international rugby, as well coaching in the USA, and he is a former Springbok. This vast experience as a coach and player will be invaluable to the team as they continue to make a mark in the international arena.

“We are also delighted to announce Laurian as the first female international coach at senior level in SA. She has a great track record at provincial and international level and, like Louis, she understands the demands on players and coaches.”

The progress of the women’s team will be tracked with greater interest this year. The improvements made by the national women’s cricket team has captured the South African public’s imagination and Erasmus, who plays a heavy hand in the Springbok men’s set-up, will be keen to attract admiring eyeballs to the Springbok women's team.

SA Rugby’s high-performance manager for women’s rugby, Lynne Cantwell, said involving a number of national team coaches in the lead up to the tour, was very productive.

“We are grateful to Springbok assistant coaches Mzwandile Stick, Felix Jones, Deon Davids and Daan Human, Junior Bok head coach Bafana Nhleko, as well as Louis, all of whom came to coach in their various fields of expertise,” said Cantwell.

How big an impact they’ve made will be revealed in Spain in the coming weeks.