Rugby is alive and well on the Sunshine Coast and while the area boasts several provincial stars, women’s rugby has taken a little longer to get off the ground in Ndlambe. That could soon change thanks to initiatives by a local club, school and sports academy.
In a step towards building women’s rugby in the area, Mzansi’s Rugby Academy has declared 2026 their year for encouraging girls to get into the game. The Port Alfred based NPO empowers young people through rugby development. It’s aligned with school rugby structures and children enrolled in formal schooling with no rugby programme, or home schoolers can participate. They’ve advertised for a dedicated women’s rugby coach.
“We’ve always been open to boys and girls, but generally it’s a lot more boys who’ve come through. This year we decided we wanted to make girls rugby a focus of the season,” said Mzansi’s co-founder Alex Floyd-Douglass.
“In previous years when girls would come, they’d train together with the boys. But then as bodies change, there are differences in strength. So we felt there needed to be a dedicated programme for girls’ rugby.
“We felt that if we got a women’s coach, it would attract more girls to come,” Floyd-Douglass said.
It will surely be a challenge to find other girls’ teams nearby to play against?
“Yes. This is the big question [Mzansi’s Co-founder] Barry [Scharneck] and I have been discussing for quite a while. In the interim, we have Academy friends in East London, Gqeberha, all over – so we can start there: playing with other academies who have a girls’ side.
“And hopefully more and more rugby schools in our region will have girls’ sides.
“In the past, that was where we lost girls because they’d train and train, but with no fixture in sight. You can’t be training for six months and not have the chance to see how your skills hold up against another side.
“But more and more people are taking women’s rugby seriously, so hopefully we’ll connect all those dots.”
Numbers
Two important parts of that puzzle are likely to be Port Alfred based Kowie United Rugby Club, and Port Alfred High School.
Kowie United president Zyrin Denston wants to form a Kowie United women’s team.
“Unfortunately we don’t have the numbers to make up a team,” he told Talk of the Town. “So the girls who come train alongside the boys.”
Core to a Kowie United women’s team would be Port Alfred Junior Secondary School pupil Latania Randall, who last year represented EP in the FNB U16 Girls Week in Johannesburg.
“It’s difficult for someone to start playing rugby after school,” Daniels said. “It’s a very physical game and requires constant conditioning.”
Another lone player at school rugby level is Port Alfred High School pupil Sanga Makalane who last year earned her selection to the junior Springboks.
PAHS principal Nigel Adams would like to help open a pathway for girls in Ndlambe to play rugby.
“It’s definitely something we’d like to get on the cards,” said the principal, who said he would request the federation to conduct a rugby clinic with local girls as a way to encourage them to play.
Invitation
In the sights of local players – whether they start off with with Mzansi’s, or a possible future PAHS side en route to a club like Kowie United will be selection to the EP Queens.
That happens in three stages, explained women’s rugby coordinator for the Eastern Province Rugby Union, Lizwe Kahle.
“First, clubs are invited by the EPRU to nominate players who are 19 years and older for possible selection,” Kahle said. “That selection process started on January 8.”
First training, then it’s the trials before possible selection to the squad. All of that happens in Gqeberha. “That’s where most of the players and coaches are based,” Kahle said.
Kahle stressed the importance of clubs.
“In May and June is when most club rugby starts and our coaches do travel to club matches to scout for talent,” Kahle said.
That space is exactly what Mzansi’s hopes to provide. In their call put out last month, they wrote, “Mzansi’s Rugby Academy is gearing up for a transformational 2026 rugby season and we’re looking to hire a dedicated female rugby coach to lead our U19 women’s team.”
“As much as we’ve had coaches who were able to help out with the girls, I think it’s really important for young girls to have a role model to look up to,” Floyd-Douglass explained. “Our male coaches have been wonderful, but there’s a distinct difference between having a male and a female rugby coach.”
A dedicated women’s coach also aligns with the South African Rugby Union’s (SARU’s) focus on developing a sustainable pipeline of talent, enhancing technical skills, and integrating coaches into professional structures through its “Destination 2027” strategy.
“The blueprint Mzansis uses in terms of development rugby – we’ll continue to use that, but having a woman coach as our role model for that team would be really important,” Floyd-Douglass said.
Challenges
Freelance sports reporter and coach and founder of Joza-based women’s soccer team African Connection, Chris Totobela, welcomed the news. That club celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.
“There are particular challenges with building a women’s team in a sport traditionally played by men and boys,” he said. “I wish them every success.”
Other women’s rugby teams in the area are Rhodes University, Alicedale United (which is actually based in Makhanda) and Old Collegians, who represented EP last year.
The Pick n Pay Women’s Super League starts on February 14. In the opening round of Super League 1, eight teams from across South Africa including the EP Queens and Border Ladies will play a single round of matches with the final on April 4. Defending champions are Isuzu Bulls Dames. Super League 2 (seven different teams) starts on July 4 with the final on August 22. Defending champions are the Pumas women.
The knockout format Betway Women’s Club Championship features 16 clubs from the 15 provincial unions play the opening round on September 19 and the final is on September26. Defending champions are Kwaru.
The FNB U18 Craven Week & FNB U18 Girls Week hosted at Grey High School in Gqeberha takes place 6 to 11 July; SA Schools matches (boys and girls): 16 July; The FNB U16 Grant Khomo Week and FNB U16 Girls Week will be hosted at Kearsney College in Durban, 29 June to 3 July.
Mzansi’s Rugby Academy caters for youngsters whose schools don’t have formal rugby programmes. They practise at the Nomzamo Secondary School sports field. More about them at mzansis.org
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This article was first published in Talk of the Town, February 5, 2026. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays
