Bulls' backroom staff revealed
New Blue Bulls Currie Cup coach Nollis Marais will lean on the 'expertise' of David Manuel and Pine Pienaar when the competition gets underway in August.
The Blue Bulls Company (Pty) Ltd on Wednesday confirmed the backroom staff for Marais.
Marais, who is head coach, will also take charge of the forwards and he will be assisted by David Manuel as back-line coach.
Manuel, who was backline coach to the UP-Tuks Varsity Cup as well as the Blue Bulls Vodacom Cup and Under-21 teams respectively since 2012, was named backline coach to the Varsity Cup Dream Team earlier this year. He was head coach of the Blue Bulls/Tuks Academy since 2007 till 2012.
The 35-year old matriculated at Waterkloof High School and as a player, represented the Blue Bulls and South African Schools, as well as representing the Blue Bulls up to Vodacom Cup level.
He also played SA Under-19 and Under-21 and represented Griquas and Free State at senior provincial level as well.
Also confirmed were the appointment of coaches to the Blue Bulls Under-21 and Under-19 teams, with Hendré Marnitz and Hayden Groepes being appointed in those roles respectively.
Marnitz was head coach to the Blue Bulls Under-19 side since November 2013 as well as defence coach of the Vodacom Cup side during 2013.
Previous head coach positions include the Buccaneers club side in Ireland, the Indian National Men's side and the Helderberg and Dagbreek Residence teams in Stellenbosch.
He was also part of the Western Province Institute coaching and recruitment staff previously.
Groepes, who represented Western Province at schoolboy and age-group level, ended his playing career with UP-Tuks.
Groepes started his coaching career as a Technical Analyst for the Blue Bulls U19 side. Groepes has also been a part of the UP-Tuks Varsity Young Guns as well as Blue Bulls U19 coaching management teams in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
Marnitz and Groepes will also coach the backs and will have Denzil Frans (Under-21) and Wessel Roux (Under-19) as forwards coaches.
Both Roux and Frans are well-established specialist coaches in the Blue Bulls structures.
Pine Pienaar has been confirmed as defensive coach to all three sides, the same role he had with the Vodacom Bulls in 2015 until at least October 2016 – this includes the Vodacom Bulls Super Rugby and Vodacom Blue Bulls Vodacom Cup sides respectively for 2016 as well.
According to the BBC's High Performance Manager, Xander Janse van Rensburg, an announcement on the role of Bulls backline coach Pieter Rossouw, will be made soon.
Janse van Rensburg also confirmed that:
* Jacques Engelbrecht and Basil Short will be loaned to the EP Kings for the Currie Cup competition.
* The Blue Bulls will play warm-up matches against the EP Kings on Friday July 17 in Port Elizabeth and Canon (in Japan) on Friday July 31.
* The Blue Bulls Under-21 team will play against the Zimbabwe national side on July 4.
Janse van Rensburg announced the extension of contract to a number of senior players as well.
Springboks Deon Stegmann (end of Super Rugby 2016), Piet van Zyl (end of October 2017) and that of Travis Ismaiel (end of October 2017).
"We will also have JJ Engelbrecht and Grant Hattingh back for next year's Super Rugby competition, but they are off to Japan in the next couple of weeks and will miss the Currie Cup," Janse van Rensburg said.
The Blue Bulls coaching structures:
Blue Bulls (Currie Cup)
Head coach: Nollis Marais (also forwards)
Backline coach: David Manuel
Defence coach: Pine Pienaar
Blue Bulls (Under-21 championship)
Head coach: Hendré Marnitz (also backline)
Forwards coach: Denzil Frans
Defence coach: Pine Pienaar
Blue Bulls (Under-19 championship)
Head coach: Hayden Groepes (also backline)
Forwards coach: Pine Pienaar
