History has been made with Donald Ngwenya, the KZN Rugby Union Development Manager since 2007 being appointed as the Northwood Rugby Head Coach. Ngwenya beat out 21 other suitably qualified candidates that had applied for the position which became available overnight. He holds a Bachelors degree in Economics and a Sports Management Diploma from the University of Johannesburg but more importantly he has 23 years of coaching experience under the belt. He started his career in the classroom as a teacher, pretty much just like outgoing coach Swys de Bruin did. Ironically he joined the Sharks from the Golden Lions where he had been their Development Official from 2002 to 2007. Now Ngwenya benefits from the sudden departure by de Bruin to the Golden Lions from the Sharks (and Northwood).
Apart from his role as the Development Manager which includes overseeing the coaching and financial structures at about 30 little development club projects, Ngwenya has been involved in coaching at a provincial level as well as with the SA Schools, SA under-19 and SA under-20 teams. Key to his appointment was the success he achieved as coach of the DSRU under-16 side that beat the Bulls in the Inter-provincial Tournament (IPT) club rugby final in 2012. Along the way to winning this title he also won over the support of the players and their parents. The Northwood Rugby Board (NRB) is confident that he can build on this youth club rugby success at school rugby level.
