SA coach for Young Sables

United States in June.
De Villiers has a number of qualifications both in coaching and in strength and conditioning and has been part of the Stellenbosch Rugby Academy technical set-up since 2009.
The former South Africa Under-21 tight head prop is also an International Rugby Board certified educator holding a Level II coaching certificate,    has a masters degree in high performance and sports science and is also a certified strength and conditioning coach.
At the Stellenbosch Rugby Academy De Villiers is the forwards coach and is also the head of conditioning — having played for the Western Province Under-19 and Under-21 teams before graduating to play in the Currie Cup.
Young Sables chairman Aaron Jani yesterday told The Herald that De Villiers will not only be coming to work with Under-20 coaches Brighton Chivandire and assistant Godwin “Jaws” Murambiwa as he will also conduct conditioning courses with selected coaches.
“He is specialised in strength and conditioning and he is also a scrummaging coach who will also assess the fitness of all our players so that the coaches (Chivandire and Murambiwa) make more informed decisions.
“He will also carry out informative sessions for selected coaches in strength and conditioning in both pre-season preparation and in season training,” said Jani.
The South African will also travel with the Young Sables for a number of friendly games at the Middelburg High School and at the Witbank Stadium in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa where they are also expected to play Mpumalanga Under-20.
“Everything for this tour is set and we have confirmed with Willie Oothuizen, the Puma official  and we have been cleared both by SARU and the ZRU.
“His (De Villiers) coming here is part of the International Rugby Board development programme which was organised through Jean Luke Barthez (of IRB), the ZRU and the Young Sables committee.
“Upon our return from Georgia last year we did a SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis and we found out that lack of game time in preparation for tournaments was one of the key areas that was letting us down.
“We also noted that there was need for us to keep in touch with the rapid changes in the technical aspect of the game
“So we resolved to approach the IRB to assist in these two aspects of the game and that is why we have De Villiers coming to work with our coaches here,” said Jani.
The Zimbabwe Under-20 side qualified for the JWRT after winning the Junior Africa Cup that also serves as the qualifier to the world stage on home ground, beating bitter rivals Namibia in the final.
This is the third consecutive time that the Young Sables have made it for the JWRT having beaten the Namibians in similar fashion over the past three years but their performance at the JWRT was not as good.
The Zimbabwe Under-20 committee working with the ZRU found it necessary to involve more experienced personnel as they try to develop the game at this stage and seek better performance when they travel to the United States this winter.
In the past two editions of the JWRT, Zimbabwe have not had the preparations they would have wanted to make their side more formidable, knowledgeable and cohesive because they did not have enough game time prior to the tournaments.
Before their departure for Georgia last year, the Young Sables only played one game against a Harare Under-23 select side, something that the Young Sables committee acknowledges was not enough preparation.
But with the facilitation of friendlies against South African sides, and the inclusion of coaches from more developed countries, Zimbabwe hope that they will have better fortunes this year.