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30 October 2019 | Story Ruan Bruwer | Photo Sonia Small
Springboks
Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor, paid a special visit to the Springboks in 2018 before they faced England in Bloemfontein. From the left are Jacques Nienaber (Springbok assistant coach), Oupa Mohoje (Springbok), Prof Petersen, Rassie Erasmus (Springbok head coach), and Swys de Bruin (Springbok consultant coach at the time). De Bruin, Erasmus, Nienaber, and Mohoje are all Kovsie alumni.


Like the rest of the country, we are behind our Springboks all the way. This is what Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State (UFS), told alumnus Rassie Erasmus in a letter this week.

Prof Petersen wrote the letter to Erasmus, the head coach of the Springboks, to wish him everything of the best in the team’s preparation and for the game on Saturday (2 November 2019) at which they face England in the Rugby World Cup final in Japan.

"On behalf of the staff and students of the University of the Free State, I would like to wish you and the Springbok team all the best with your preparations this week and for the final. I know that Saturday’s match will be played with vigour and determination,” Prof Petersen wrote.

Prof Petersen said the UFS community was extremely proud of the Springboks’ achievements during the 2019 Rugby World Cup – especially with Erasmus at the helm of the team. The Boks defeated Japan in the quarter-final and Wales in the semi-final to reach their first final since 2007.

“As a former Shimla player and Kovsie Alumnus of the Year 1998, we are truly proud of what you have achieved during your career in South African rugby, and especially during the World Cup tournament. We are also proud of our other alumni – Jacques Nienaber as defence coach, and referee Jaco Peyper.”

Peyper refereed one of the quarter-finals and will be an assistant referee in the bronze medal play-off between New Zealand and Wales on 1 November 2019.

Under Erasmus the Springboks won the Rugby Championship this year, the first time since 2010. Erasmus and Nienaber have a long relationship. They met in the army in 1991. Later Nienaber served as physiotherapist with the Shimlas and Erasmus captained the team. They worked together at the Cheetahs, Cats, Stormers, Munster and now the Springboks.

News Archive

Facilitation session for Extended Curriculum Project
2009-03-13

The Faculty of Humanities at the University of the Free State (UFS) recently held an academic facilitation session in its Extended Curriculum Project for first-year Sociology students on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein. The purpose of this project is to improve the throughput and pass rates in the B.A. and B.Soc.Sc. extended programmes, as the failure and dropout rates in the faculty are high, especially among first-year students and in the extended programmes themselves. This will be done by establishing a support system for students in their first year of study to help them with and support them in integrating skills with the academic content of the mainstream modules. These extended programmes were introduced in 2005 in an effort to provide students who are not sufficiently prepared for higher education with a better opportunity to be successful in their studies. This year the focus will be on the first-year students in these extended programmes. Pictured are the project facilitators: Ms Melanie Nel (2nd from left), Ms Puleng Maleho (4th from left) and Ms Bianca de Vos (6th from left), with some of the students.
Photo: Mangaliso Radebe

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