The Knysna Titans Women’s Rugby Club founder member and Director, Aschin Klein, stepped down after accepting the Head Coaching position of the SWD Eagles Girls u/18 team.

One of the requirement of the provincial appointment is that the appointed coach not be allowed to have direct involvement in the coaching or management of a club.

Aschin Klein, better know as Coach Ash, is one of the co-founders of the Titans Women’s Rugby Club that was established in April 2005.

Over the past 11 years, Titans WRC has, under the guidance of Coach Ash, produced three national players, five high performance age grade players and more then 50 provincial players.

Last year, Coach Ash also became Knysna’s first International coach with his appointment as Consulting Coach of The Kenya National Women’s 7s Coach. During his 3 months stay in Nairobi, the Kenya Lionesses (as they are known) won their first World Rugby International 7s trophy at the World Series Qualifier. The Lionesses also qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics during this time.

Coach Ash returned to South Africa at the end of September 2015 and resumed his duties as Director of Rugby at the Titans WRC. During the last few months, he combined the Titans Rugby Academy and his Kaiwhana Knysna Rugby Academy to establish the Kaiwhana Titans Rugby Academy that now serves as the feeder system for the Titans Women’s Rugby Club. This academy establish u/7, u/9, u/11 & u/13 girls teams that have been fully operational for the last 6 months.

“Losing Aschin as our coach will leave a very big whole in our club but we are fortunate that he developed a very good structure and equipped clubs ladies with the knowledge to coach the team in his absence. Aschin deserves this opportunity and it is very long overdue. This may be a very huge loss for us but we, as a club, share in his excitement and wish him all the best.” – Marlene Adams Chairperson Titans WRC

The SWD Eagles Girls u/18 team will take part in the SARU National Girls u/18 week that takes place in Kimberley from 4 July – 8 July 2016. This tournament is the equivalent to the boys Craven week. The SWD Eagles Girls u/18 team has a big task at hand and will start their 2016 campaign with an International fixture against the Zimbabwe Girls u/18 team. The Zimbabwian team won a closely contested semi-final match against the Eagles girls at the 2015 event.

“I am very delighted with the opportunity that presented itself. I’m under no illusions that this going to be easy. Its going to be a tough challenge. The SWD u/18 team lost a lot of players from last year which will make it slightly more difficult… but a few of the talented young u/16’s of last season will be available for selection at u/18 level. This is the type of challenges that drives me and this is what’s coaching is all about. ” – Coach Ash

Aschin Klein’s Coaching Career

2016 – Kenya Director of Rugby Position (Short List of 3 )
2015 – Kenya National Women’s 7s – (Bowl Winner WSQ, Qualified For Olympics)
2013 SWD Coastal Regional u/20
2012 SWD Craven Week Selector
2012 SWD KPSSS u/18 Coach
2010 SWD Women 2nd Team
2007 SWD Girls u/16 Sevens Head Coach
2015 – Dir of Rugby Knysna United
2005-2016 Dir of Rugby Titans WRC
1999-2011 Knysna United 7s Coach

SARU Girls & Women’s Rugby Fixtures for 2016

National Girls Under-16 Week (Monday, 27 June) in Welkom:

10h00 – Border Country Districts vs Eastern Province (A Field)
10h00 – Griquas vs SWD (B Field)
11h00 – Limpopo Blue Bulls vs Free State (A Field)
11h00 – Falcons vs Leopards (B field)
12h00 – Boland vs Golden Lions (A Field)
12h00 – Border vs Blue Bulls (B Field)
14h00 – Western Province vs KZN
15h00 – Pumas vs Griffons

National Girls Under-18 Week (Monday, 4 July) in Kimberley:

10h00 – Leopards vs Falcons (A Field)
10h00 – Free State vs KZN (B Field)
11h00 – Western Province vs Eastern Province (A Field)
11h00 – Griffons vs Pumas (B Field)
12h00 – Golden Lions vs Boland (A Field)
12h00 – Border vs Blue Bulls (B Field)
14h00 – SWD vs Zimbabwe (A Field)
15h00 – Limpopo Blue Bulls vs Griquas (B Field)

The results of the opening day’s play will determine which sides face each other in the second round on Wednesday. Opening day fixtures:

SARU Women’s Inter-Provincial League

09 July 2016
SWD EaGirls vs Border Woman
EP Queens vs Western Province
Sharks vs Blue Bulls

23 July 2016
Western Province vs SWD EaGirls
Blue Bulls vs EP Queens
Border vs Sharks

06 August 2016
SWD EaGirls vs Blue Bulls
Border vs Western Province
Sharks vs EP Queens

20 August 2016
EP Queens vs SWD EaGirls
Blue Bulls vs Border
Western Province vs Sharks

03 September 2016
Sharks vs SWD EaGirls
Border vs EP Queens
Western Province vs Blue Bulls

(Dates Unofficial & Subject to Change)

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