Meyer renewed his certification in Pretoria last week, while Theron was joined by three members of the South African Rugby Union’s High Performance Mobi-Unit and Springbok coaching consultants, Pieter de Villiers, Louis Koen and Chean Roux, as well as Jacques Nienaber, High Performance Manager in the Rugby Department, in Cape Town earlier this month.

The biennial BokSmart certification is compulsory for anybody who wants to coach or referee rugby in South Africa at any level. The three Springbok assistant coaches, Johann van Graan, Ricardo Loubscher and John McFarland, are certified until 2016 while Springbok consultant Richie Gray will renew his certification later this year.

BokSmart provides coaches and referees with the knowledge and skills to apply safe rugby techniques and basic medical and injury prevention practices.

The three and a half hour course features everything from rugby safety related laws, concussion identification, treatment and management, technical preparation and safer contact techniques for scrums, tackles and the breakdown contest, and red flags to identify serious head, neck and spinal injuries. It is compulsory for all coaches and referees in South Africa.

Meyer’s recertification was handled by Kosie Horn, BokSmart coordinator in Pretoria, while Theron and the Springbok consultants’ renewal was done by Dr Wayne Viljoen, Senior Manager: Rugby Safety at SARU.

“I am very impressed with the quality of the BokSmart training process and the content of the course,” said Meyer, who was re-certified for the second time.

“We are definitely heading in the right direction with this and I am very proud to be associated with the programme. Making the game we all love safer at all levels, is very important if we are going to grow rugby in South Africa.

“This is a very important initiative – player safety, no matter at which level of the game, is extremely important and BokSmart provides a lot of necessary knowledge for coaches at both professional and amateur level.”

Mr Oregan Hoskins, president of SARU said it was great to see the eagerness and willingness with which the top professional coaches in South Africa supported the programme.

“To see the way in which our best coaches get stuck in and how positive they are about the programme and what it aims to achieve, is testament to not only their commitment to their profession, but also to making the game safer.

“Heyneke, Dawie and their colleagues set a superb example for the many other coaches out there, especially with the spirit in which they approached the course. Nothing is more important than the on-field safety of our rugby players.”

For more information about the BokSmart programme, please visit www.boksmart.com, or on Facebook (facebook.com/BokSmart) or follow us on Twitter (@Boksmart).

Courtesy of SARU