Glenwood: Shawn for Sean
Glenwood High School has appointed Shawn van Rensburg as its director of rugby in place of Sean Erasmus who has gone to Paarl Boys' High.
Van Rensburg certainly has a remarkably varied rugby career. Born in Mossel Bay on 11 October 1974, he was educated at Andries Pretorius Primary school when he played for Natal at Craven Week and the at Werda High Schools where he captained the first team.
As an adult player he wandered far and wide. He captained Natal at Under-20 and Under-20 level, played in the Eastern Province and then, back in Durban, for Natal Wildebeest. In 1999 he went to Wales and won 50 caps for Neath, then Bridgend and then the Newport Gwent Dragons. He was part of the Welsh squad under Graham Henry and then Steve Hanson. Back in South Africa he played for the Pumas in 2005 after which he went to France and played for Toulon. This was not enough for the energetic young man and he then went to play rugby league for Celtic Crusaders in Wales and was part of the Welsh Rugby league squad.
He was back in Durban in 2007 and captained the Natal Duikers, then captained the Rhinos, the South African Rugby League team.
In 2007 he started coaching – Durban Harlequins for three seasons, then in Chicago and Colorado. In 2011 he became the head of rugby and the 1st XV coach at Hoërskool Voortrekker in Pietermaritzburg and also coached the University of KwaZulu Natal in Varsity Shield.
In 2014 he has moved to Glenwood.
