South Africa Rugby Coach Joint Indian Rugby Team

Rugby India gears up for the upcoming Asia Rugby Internationals.

The Indian Men's team is set to participate in the Asia Rugby Championship- Division 3 tournament which is scheduled to be held at end of June in Indonesia. India are grouped with Indonesia and China and will fight for a spot at promotion.

The Indian Women's team are fired after making their international XVs debut last year as they take on Phillippines, China and hosts Singapore in the 2nd Asia Rugby Women's Division 1 the competition which will also be scheduled to be held in June.

In the build-up for both tournaments, Rugby India has flown in a team of coaches from South Africa to train and prepare both our national teams.

Meet the Dream Team of Coaches!

Jannie Brooks – Strength & Conditioning

Former Currie Cup Rugby winner with the Blue Bulls. Jannie has 24 years of practical experience in rugby conditioning.

Hendrick 'Naas' Botha - Head Coach

Former Captain of the Springboks, World Rugby Hall of Famer, 4 time World Rugby player of the year

Ludwiche Van Deventer – Backs Coach

SA All Stars 7s Rugby Head Coach. Ludwiche also coached our Women's Sevens Team and our U18 Girls last year!

Christiaan Buitendach – Forwards Coach

Former Currie Cup winner, A former consultant to the Springboks and member of the South Africa Rugby Union Coaching Committee.

Rugby should not be run in a haphazard manner, Bose noted. "I am happy that the sport is run by former players, there are no politicians, no rich persons," he said. "None of us make money. We are rather spending our money. The sport is run on passion and knowledge."

He said his job was to raise the profile of rugby. "I have been working on this for the last 19 months," he said. "The plan is for four years. Indian rugby will have some big news in 2020."

Bose was confident rugby would become one of the 10 most popular sports in India within a couple of years. "We have to remember that India played its first Test in 1932, but we became the World No. 1 only in 2009; yes, we won the World Cup in 1983, but that was in a different format," he said. "So it took us well over 70 years to reach the top in cricket. As for rugby, we have been around for only 26 years in the international arena; we have moved from the World No. 98 to 74 in that time. Not many Indian teams have made as much progress in any sport."

He said it would take India 10 years to reach the world's top 50 in rugby. "Our aim is to be among top 25 percent of the world’s 125 nations within 25 years," he said. "It is no rocket science to determine what we need for that: we need boys and girls and the right kind of training facility. To fund all that we need sponsors, for which we need presence in the media."