Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

Three Kovsies in Springbok coaching team

31 January 2020 | Story Ruan Bruwer | Photo Gallo Images

The appointment of Jacques Nienaber as the new Springbok head coach means that a former Kovsie will once again coach the Springbok team. Nienaber takes over from Rassie Erasmus, another Kovsie alumnus.

It was also announced that Daan Human, like Erasmus a former Shimla player who went on to play for the Springboks, will be the scrum consultant. Erasmus will continue in the role of director of rugby and will be part of the Springbok coaching team, which means that half of the six coaches in the team can call themselves Kovsies.

Nienaber joined Erasmus in the Springbok coaching team in February 2018 as defensive coach. At the 2019 Rugby World Cup, the Springboks conceded the fewest tries (four) of all the teams. Erasmus will be responsible for the strategy and results, with Nienaber taking operational control.

It will be the first time Nienaber steps into a head-coach role. He started as physiotherapist with the Shimlas U20 team, before going into strength and conditioning and later becoming a defence coach.“This is a massive honour and responsibility, but I think I have a good understanding of what it entails, especially in this new structure. It’s a big step-up for me. I would not have accepted if I didn’t believe I could be successful,” said the 47-year-old Nienaber.

“I’ve been worked with Rassie in a coaching capacity for nearly two decades now and we have a very good idea of how each of us thinks.” The two first worked together in the Shimlas U20 team, where Erasmus was the captain and Nienaber the physio.

Besides Nienaber, two other former Shimlas are currently in a head-coach role – Neil Powell at the Springbok Sevens team and Franco Smith is coaching the Italian national team.

News Archive

Africa’s lost voice during the Second World War echoes throughout book

2016-08-24

Description: Second World War book launch Tags: Second World War book launch

Prof Judith Byfield and Prof Heidi Hudson at the
book launch of Africa and Second World War at the
UFS Sasol Library.
Photo: Rulanzen Martin

If you pick up any historical record on the Second World War, you would see that, to a large extent, Africa has been missing from the history pages until now.

Africa and the Second World War (WW II) is a book edited by Prof Carolyn Brown from Rutgers University and Prof Judith Byfield from Cornell University in the United States. The book is the outcome of various papers presented during a workshop at Rutgers University and at a conference on WWII hosted at Cornell University.

The co-editors of the book were invited by Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of the Free State (UFS), to launch the book at the UFS. The Centre for Africa Studies at the university, in collaboration with the UFS Sasol Library, presented the launch on Tuesday 16 August 2016.

Bestowing honour upon Africa’s role during WW II
Many people do not know that WW II started in Ethiopia with the Italian Invasion. This is generally omitted from discussions or complete histories of WW II. The present book explores the experiences of male and female combatants, peasant producers, women traders, missionaries, and sex workers during the war. “Many people are not aware that Africa produced most of the mineral and agricultural during the war,” said Prof Brown.

Book to reach a greater audience for discussion
The co-editors hope that the book reaches people who teach WW II history, as many talk about only the nationalist movements. “The opening of the book also talks about the importance of South Africa during WW II,” said Prof Byfield. The authors hope that people will read the book to start thinking comparatively about the war.

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept