Jake
White

Jake White is one of the finest South African rugby coaches of all time. Discover his coaching career with RugbyPass, your resident rugby gurus.

Jake White Bio

Jake White is a former international rugby union coach who led the Springboks to glory at the 2007 Rugby World Cup. He’s now the director of rugby at the Bulls in the United Rugby Championship. Jake White was inducted into the RugbyPass Hall of Fame in 2021.

After playing rugby during his youth, Jake White began coaching when he returned to his former school as a teacher. After successfully coaching the school’s first XV, he was appointed as the provincial schools coach. Following this, he coached various U19 and U21 sides before he joined the junior Springboks setup. Over the next few years he then worked his way through the ranks before he ultimately led the U21 Springboks side to victory at the U21 Rugby Union World Cup in 2002.

After South Africa performed poorly at the 2003 Rugby World Cup, Jake White was installed as the head coach of the Springboks. Under his stewardship, the side’s resurgence was remarkable and he immediately guided them to their first Tri Nations (now The Rugby Championship trophy since 1998. As a result, he was named as the IRB Coach of the Year.

Following this, Jake White led South Africa to Rugby World Cup glory in 2007. The day after the final, he was named as the IRB Coach of the Year for the second time. However, in spite of this, only a week or so after the final, SARU announced that he had not re-applied for the role of Springboks head coach. A war of words followed this, but his time as the Springboks head coach ultimately came to a close.

Post-Springboks, Jake White held several roles with the IRB between 2008 and 2012. Following this, he returned to coaching and had a spell with the Brumbies. However, after announcing that he wanted to return to South Africa, he took up a position as the director of rugby at the Sharks in 2014.

But, feeling like he still had something to offer on the international stage, Jake White left the Sharks to work as a technical advisor to Tonga. Following this, he enjoyed spells with Montpellier (2014-17) and Toyota Verblitz (2017-20). He’s now returned to South Africa with the Bulls, where he’s the director of rugby.