Heyneke Meyer

Who is Heyneke Meyer?

Heyneke Meyer is a rugby union coach. He succeeded Peter de Villiers as coach of South Africa's national team the Springboks on 27 January 2012 for a four-year term.

He was previously Head Coach at Leicester Tigers in the Guinness Premiership. He is the former coach of the Bulls in the Super 14 competition.

After studying sports psychology at the University of Pretoria, Meyer coached a variety of smaller clubs before joining the SWD Eagles as assistant coach in 1997. The following year he was promoted to head coach and took the team to seventh place in the Currie Cup and to the semi finals in the following year. In 2000 Meyer joined the Northern Bulls as head coach. In 2002 he became head coach of the Blue Bulls and coached them to four Currie Cup titles in between 2002 and 2006. In 2007, the team became the first South African team to win the Super 14 competition.

In February 2008 Meyer was expected to succeed Jake White as coach of the South African national team but after this job went to Peter De Villiers. Meyer quit rugby and accepted a senior position at a sports supplement company. In June 2008 Meyer was appointed Head Coach at Leicester Tigers succeeding Marcelo Loffreda.