The Sharks have officially confirmed a fresh coaching structure under incoming director of rugby Neil Powell, including a new breakdown coach and head of Currie Cup and youth rugby.
Powell will take up his new role as Sharks director of rugby after finishing his commitments with the Blitzboks in the Sevens World Cup in Cape Town in September.
Under Powell, the Sharks have implemented a new coaching structure, separating the Vodacom United Rugby Championship and Champions Cup from Currie Cup and youth rugby.
Sean Everitt will remain in his position as head coach of the URC and Champions Cup side, after coaching the team to a quarter-final place in the inaugural season.
A new addition to the Sharks’ coaching structure for the European competitions is Yannick Bru as breakdown coach. Bru is a former France international and a dual Heineken Cup winner with Toulouse. He has coached at the highest level, as forwards coach for France for five years and five years at Toulouse, before spending the last four years as head coach at Bayonne.
Warren Whiteley (defence), Noel McNamara (attack), Phiwe Nomlomo (skills) and Akvsenti Girogadze (scrums) all remain in their roles from last season.
Meanwhile, another new addition, Joey Mongalo, will work closely with Powell to oversee the Currie Cup competition and junior rugby at the Sharks.
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For the past two seasons, Mongalo has served as the defence coach at the Vodacom Bulls. He spent nine seasons with the Lions in various coaching roles between 2011 and 2019, leading their U19s to silverware in 2016 and 2017 as head coach, and as defence coach of the U19s, U21s, Vodacom Cup, Currie Cup, Super Rugby (2018 finalists) and the Junior Springboks in 2016.
“Neil will be at the helm, to develop and oversee all rugby structures within the Sharks and to ensure that our teams are aligned in terms of the identified coaching DNA. He will implement and manage an effective plan to achieve the franchise’s objectives, which is ultimately to win trophies”, said Sharks CEO Eduard Coetzee.
“He will oversee the United Rugby Championship, as well as our first foray in the Champions Cup… we are confident that he will get the best out of players and brings a winning mindset to the Sharks.
“In this upcoming season we will be participating in no less than five competitions. This means that not only is player depth important, but coaching depth too. It was therefore essential for us to get the right people involved and we have used the last 18 months to do exactly that.
“We believe that this new Sharks coaching structure will give us stability and an opportunity to fight for trophies and achieve success moving forward.”
Photo: Steve Haag/Gallo Images
