How Laurian Johannes-Haupt engineered a Bok Women superpower
Daan Human, with his iconic bucket, may be the mastermind behind the Springboks’ back-to-back World Cup-winning scrum, but on the women’s side, there is an equally influential figure driving standards: Laurian Johannes-Haupt.
Hailing from Cape Town, Johannes-Haupt earned 14 Test caps for the Springbok Women before retiring in 2014.
Her rugby journey began at the University of the Western Cape, where she fell in love with the sport – even telling a small lie to her father to secure her first pair of boots. The moment she stepped onto the field, the path ahead became clear, and her father ultimately became one of her greatest supporters.
A qualified teacher, Johannes-Haupt transitioned into coaching immediately after retirement. Her résumé is already stacked: two Women’s Premier Division titles with Western Province, a stint as Junior Springbok Women’s coach, and a place in the World Rugby Gallagher Coaching Internship Programme. She joined the Springbok Women as an assistant coach in 2023.
Recently, she earned her World Rugby Level 3 coaching accreditation – a milestone in itself.
Currently, Johannes-Haupt is the architect of one of the Springbok Women’s greatest strengths: a dominant, technically precise scrum that has become a trademark of their game plan. The set-piece was instrumental in their march to the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals in England.
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Speaking to Rugby365, Johannes-Haupt admitted that transforming the scrum into a weapon didn’t come without early challenges.
“In the men’s game, scrumming is that pure physical, dominant thing you want to do – they love scrumming,” she said.
“So unfortunately, I had to get the girls to love scrumming because it’s not naturally something you want to go into.”
“I usually dangle a little carrot – listen, if you give me five perfect scrums, we’re done with it. You don’t have to do number six or number seven. Sometimes they win, sometimes they don’t, because immediately if one of the scrums collapses, we have to go to six and seven. So the harder they work in the process, the better the outcome.
“Just getting them to love what they’re doing was our first objective, and the next thing is knowing that we can’t do it as individuals – we must do it as a pack. You need to stick in there for the pack, because we’re going to win penalties so that we can kick to the corner, and we can move for the tries. It’s a whole group effort and everybody has bought into the plan.”
That collective mentality has become a hallmark of the Bok Women.
“Our forward pack is our superpower,” Johannes-Haupt explained.
“It is so dominant and physical that other countries around the world are clearly intimidated by it, and they know they need to front up and really be able to battle us there. Because you know, anything can happen on any given day – the Springbok Women could be taking on one of the world’s best and beating them because of a very dominant forward pack.”
Packed calender
The Springbok Women have assembled for a week-long alignment camp in Stellenbosch, with head coach Swys de Bruin calling up 42 players – including 21 World Cup campaigners and several rising talents from the U20 Women’s Week. The BlitzBoks Women, fresh off winning the Rugby Africa Sevens title, were not included in this camp.
The 2025 season has already marked a turning point for women’s rugby in South Africa, highlighted by the team’s historic first-ever World Cup quarterfinal appearance.
Momentum is building: the launch of a Women’s Super Rugby League is set for May, the WXV looms, and Johannes-Haupt confirmed a two-Test series against the USA.
“We have a jam-packed international season,” she said. “We’re playing in the WXV, and we’re also playing two Tests against the USA.”
With Johannes-Haupt at the helm of the scrum, the Springbok Women continue to reshape expectations – and opposition packs know exactly what awaits them: a battle they cannot afford to lose.
