DHL Western Province Women assistant coach Jongi Nokwe says that his team’s success in recent years comes as a result of the continuity with the junior system which is producing talented young players.
Nokwe is working with SA U20 Women’s Head Coach and DHL Western Province Women’s Head Coach Laurian Johannes, and in his three seasons with the team has lost just two games, with the team having already booked a home final ahead of the final round of league fixtures this season.
The Springbok and DHL Stormers wing has enjoyed some impressive results in his short time he has been involved with the DHL Western Province Women’s team, but he says the key has been the talent coming through the junior system and the alignment with the senior structures at the union.
“We have had a lot of injuries this year, but luckily we have a lot of talented juniors that have come in and fit in, they look like they have been there before.
“They have been playing for DHL Western Province since U16, then they go to U18. The structure we use with the seniors is the same as the structure with the juniors, which is why they are able to slot in easily in the senior team,” he says.
The management team also has a solid core of 10 Springbok players to work with, injury permitting, but that does not stop them from searching far and wide for the next promising player.
The squad started pre-season in February and Nokwe has been keeping an eye open for any promising talent to add to the squad since then.
“This year we start pre-season in February, we invited all players to join us and then we started playing trials in March.
“We then choose a squad, but we never close the door on anyone who was at trials,” he explains.
While DHL Western Province have not lost a game this season, Nokwe says that the strength of the SA Rugby Women’s Interprovincial competition has improved across the board, with a number of teams raising their standards this season.
“In previous years Border was our toughest game, but this year other teams like the Sharks have really improved. Last week we played against Boland and they gave us a run in that first 40 minutes, I think the score in the first half was only 7-0.
“We are playing EP next and they just beat Border, so you can see the standard has lifted,” he says.
DHL Western Province have already booked a home final, but Nokwe says while some players will get an opportunity for gametime, they also do not want to lose any momentum.
“We want to make sure we give everyone a chance, we are not going to change the whole team but we are going to give those players who we didn’t feel got enough of a chance along with some players who we feel need more gametime.
“We would like to take some momentum into the final,” he adds.