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15 June 2018 Photo Sonia Small
Go Bokke says rector to wealth of Kovsies in Bok management team
Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor, paid a special visit to the Springboks on Friday 15 June 2018 to wish the four former Kovsies good luck for the test match against England on Saturday (16 June 2018). From the left are: Jacques Nienaber, Oupa Mohoje, Prof Petersen, Rassie Erasmus, and Swys de Bruin.

 Listen to Prof Petersen's message to the Springboks here.

Former Kovsies are in abundance in the management team to face England in the second test in Bloemfontein on Saturday (16 June 2018).  

No less than four of the management team, including three of the five coaches, are Kovsies, having studied at the University of the Free State (UFS) previously. They are Rassie Erasmus (head coach), Jacques Nienaber (defence coach), Swys de Bruin (consultant for attacking play), and Vivian Verwant (physiotherapist). Nienaber is also a qualified physio who started his career in this role at Shimlas before advancing to coaching later on. Erasmus and De Bruin both donned the blue jersey.

Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, paid a special visit to the Springboks’ hotel in Bloemfontein on Friday morning (15 June 2018) to wish Erasmus and company good luck for the test. “I just want to wish you all the best. The entire Kovsie community is behind you and the Springboks, and we only want one result tomorrow,” Prof Petersen said.

Erasmus, who studied at the UFS in the early 1990s, said it was a joyful week in Bloemfontein. “It is good to be here. We really enjoyed the facilities, having trained at Shimla Park with all its good memories. Hopefully the result will be good tomorrow. We are proud former Kovsies, with quite a few of us here,” Erasmus said.

Although he won’t play on Saturday, loose forward Oupa Mohoje is still part of the training squad. Ox Nche, who was released from the squad on Sunday (10 June 2018), became the 76th Kovsie Springbok in the match against Wales on 2 June 2018.

News Archive

UFS boasts with world class research apparatus
2005-10-20

 

 

At the launch of the diffractometer were from the left Prof Steve Basson (Chairperson:  Department of Chemistry at the UFS), Prof Jannie Swarts (Unit for Physical and Macro-molecular Chemistry at the UFS Department of Chemistry), Mr Pari Antalis (from the provider of the apparatus - Bruker SA), Prof Herman van Schalkwyk (Dean:  Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS), Prof André Roodt (head of the X-ray diffraction unit at the UFS Department of Chemistry) and Prof Teuns Verschoor (Vice-Rector:  Academic Operations at the UFS).

UFS boasts with world class research apparatus
The most advanced single crystal X-ray diffractometer in Africa has been installed in the Department of Chemistry at the University of the Free State (UFS).

“The diffractometer provides an indispensable technique to investigate compounds for medicinal application for example in breast, prostate and related bone cancer identification and therapy, currently synthesized in the Department of Chemistry.  It also includes the area of homogeneous catalysis where new compounds for industrial application are synthesised and characterised and whereby SASOL and even the international petrochemical industry could benefit, especially in the current climate of increased oil prices,” said Prof Andrè Roodt, head of the X-ray diffraction unit at the UFS Department of Chemistry.

The installation of the Bruker Kappa APEX II single crystal diffractometer is part of an innovative programme of the UFS management to continue its competitive research and extend it further internationally.

“The diffractometer is the first milestone of the research funding programme for the Department of Chemistry and we are proud to be the first university in Africa to boast with such advanced apparatus.  We are not standing back for any other university in the world and have already received requests for research agreements from universities such as the University of Cape Town,” said Prof Herman van Schalkwyk, Dean:  Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS.

The diffractometer is capable of accurately analysing molecules in crystalline form within a few hours and obtain the precise geometry – that on a sample only the size of a grain of sugar.   It simultaneously gives the exact distance between two atoms, accurate to less than fractions of a billionth of a millimetre.

“It allows us to investigate certain processes in Bloemfontein which has been impossible in the past. We now have a technique locally by which different steps in key chemical reactions can be evaluated much more reliable, even at temperatures as low as minus 170 degrees centigrade,” said Prof Roodt.

A few years ago these analyses would have taken days or even weeks. The Department of Chemistry now has the capability to investigate chemical compounds in Bloemfontein which previously had to be shipped to other, less sophisticate sites in the RSA or overseas (for example Sweden, Russia and Canada) at significant extra costs.

Media release
Issued by:Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel:   (051) 401-2584
Cell:  083 645 2454
E-mail:  loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
19 October 2005   

 

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