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United Rugby Championship

Rassie Erasmus loans 4 Springbok coaches to ailing URC outfit

By Josh Raisey

91 days ago

South Africa assistant coaches Felix Jones, left, and Jerry Flannery before the Quilter Nations Series 2025 match between Ireland and South Africa at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. (Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

South Africa coaches Felix Jones, Jerry Flannery, Duane Vermeulen and Andy Edwards will provide short-term support for the Bulls following a request from the United Rugby Championship outfit.

Following a summer in which Johan Ackermann replaced Jake White at the helm at Loftus Versfeld, last season’s runners-up are languishing in 10th place in the URC with just three wins from their opening seven matches, and back-to-back losses in the Investec Champions Cup.

This is part of SA Rugby’s practice of sharing national coaching resources when requested.

SA Rugby emphasised that this is not a formal appointment for the coaches; rather, they will help remotely and in person on a limited basis.

VIDEO

Assistant coaches Jones and Flannery, SA Rugby Mobi-Unit coach Vermeulen, and Head of Athletic Performance Edwards are fresh from an unbeaten Quilter Nations Series with the Springboks, and now have some downtime before their first match of 2026, which will come against England at Ellis Park on July 4.

Fixture

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08:00

22 Aug 26

New Zealand

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The Bulls, meanwhile, travel to Cape Town on January 3 to take on the high-flying Stormers, who are yet to lose a match this season in any competition, before turning their attention back to the Champions Cup, where they will face the Bristol Bears and Pau.

“We maintain regular engagement with our franchises, and when they request input in specific areas, we assist within the normal scope of our roles,” said South Africa head coach Erasmus.

“We understand the importance of a strong, collaborative relationship between our provincial teams and the Springboks, as it ultimately benefits South African rugby as a whole.”

SA Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer added: “Our approach has always been to work collaboratively with our franchises where possible. We want to see all our teams perform to the best of their ability, and we will continue to support them when they reach out for assistance.”

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Comments

16 Comments

DC 90 days ago

Felix Jones is a piece of s***.

Hellhound 89 days ago

DC is a piece of s***. That is you by the way.

MS 90 days ago

Yikes, why?

JW 90 days ago

Great news, is it the first time then it’s been done?

Been saying that NZR needed to do similar with the Highlanders, mainly in terms of using it in a promotional way to lure players (smallest area of low local talent of all teams and have lacked quality in less recent players) to the area, by using some sort of formal national coaching application.

Wayneo 89 days ago

It’s the Springboks’ Mobi-Unit that are assisting (brainchild of Rassie Erasmus). They go around the country and share expertise and provide short-term support, also to ensure a consistent philosophy and standard of coaching across the entire country.

FC 90 days ago

Ah, so Jake White WASN’T the problem after all….

Hellhound 89 days ago

He lost the locker room. He was one of the problems. There is a deeper Roy, but Jake White took the fall for it. I said Ackermann was the wrong choice when it was just debated. I hoped he would prove me wrong when he eventually got appointed, but now the Bulls are at their worst in 5 years, and in just 7 games after being nearly unbeatable. The vast difference in experienced coaching is huge. What makes it worse, is that the Bulls are full of WC winners and new Boks of the future, some of the best players you will find anywhere, and they lose even easy games? Ackermann is so far out of his depth that it's ridiculous. To think, the Bulls could have had Franco Smith. They really screwed up there

Hammer Head 90 days ago

He wasn’t the solution either

fl 91 days ago

This seems great. It strikes me as odd that more national teams don’t do this - what are the coaches doing when it isn’t the international window? I guess there’s scouting & tactical analysis to be doing, but I doubt that’s a 5-day a week job.

JW 90 days ago

Certainly here I think it is, but it must be very low value work, and across all teams. Getting stuck in utilizing skills etc will get much more value out of them.

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