Both Penryn and Curro Nelspruit will start the coming year with new heads of rugby, as they recently announced their respective appointments.

Being a head of rugby at a school in the Lowveld seems to be a sought-after position this year, as these two schools’ appointments come after Hoërskool Nelspruit announced that MJ Mentz would take on the role for them.

Penryn became the first to announce a change in personnel when long-time head of rugby Dean van der Merwe departed, and Jaun Pieterse was named the school’s new head of rugby and programme development on November 12, leaving his post at Curro Nelspruit vacant. Pieterse boasts over a decade of high-level coaching experience across school, club, academy and provincial levels.

He has played a significant role in the Pumas high schools rugby programme for 14 years, coaching everything from primary school teams to U21 Currie Cup sides. As founder and director of the Lowveld Rugby Academy and owner of Puma Kidz Rugby Development, he has also built sustainable pathways for developing young talent in the region.

He has enjoyed success at club and school level this year too. As head coach at White River Rugby Club, he led them to titles in the Ehlanzeni Premier League and the Mpumalanga Premier League. While at Curro Nelspruit he coached their first team to the Mpumalanga Noordvaal Division 3 title.

It wasn’t until December 2 that Curro Nelspruit announced that Jacques Momberg would succeed Pieterse. He will be the head of sport for both the primary and high school.

Momberg completed his matric at Hoërskool Waterkloof in 2009 with four distinctions and earned a BSc degree in genetics, psychology and physiology from the University of Pretoria in 2014. He represented the Blue Bulls’ U19 and U21 teams between 2010 and 2012, serving as captain and winning the U21 Currie Cup.

In 2012 he won the Varsity Cup with Tuks. From 2012 to 2015 he played for the Pumas, winning the Currie Cup First Division and Vodacom Cup. Momberg then joined Rovigo Delta in Italy where he captained the team, broke a 26-year trophy drought, and lifted the Italian Cup twice. He returned to the Pumas in 2022 before retiring due to a neck injury, having played a total of 136 professional matches.

He served as forward coach at the UXi Pumas Rugby Institute in 2023, and became head coach of the institute and U21 Pumas forward coach in 2024.

In 2025, he was appointed programme manager and head coach at UXi Pumas Rugby Institute while also coaching Nelspruit Rugby Club to the Mpumalanga Premier League final and qualifying for the Gold Cup for the first time in the club’s history. Momberg also achieved his IRB Level 2 Coaching Certification in 2025. As part of the Pumas U21 coaching staff this year they finished as runners-up in the SA Rugby U21 Shield.