Johan Ackermann needs to turn goosebumps into glory, writes SIMON BORCHARDT.
“He is the right man at the right time,” Bulls president Willem Strauss said when Johan Ackermann was appointed head coach.
The former Springbok lock was the obvious candidate once it became clear that Jake White’s position had become untenable and others earmarked for the job were locked into contracts with current clubs.
Ackermann made his name as a coach by taking the Lions from Super Rugby relegation in 2012 to back-to-back finals in 2016 and 2017. He then coached in England and Japan, before returning to South Africa last year as a Junior Springbok consultant.
The 55-year-old, who started his playing career at the Bulls in the mid-1990s, said he got “goosebumps” when offered the job and didn’t hesitate to accept. Three days after his appointment, he helped the Junior Boks claim their first World Rugby U20 Championship since 2012 – a timely reminder of his value.
Junior Boks head coach Kevin Foote praised Ackermann for bringing energy, leadership and a winning mindset. He pointed to the work done on scrums, lineouts and mauls, but stressed that his real strength was shaping culture – something the Bulls needed after White’s relationship with senior players and assistant coaches broke down.
Ackermann inherits a side that has reached three URC finals in four seasons, only to lose all three, most recently to Leinster in Dublin. After that defeat, White again stated that the Bulls needed more Springboks to compete with Europe’s elite. White played a big role in bringing Springbok flyhalf Handré Pollard, centre Jan Serfontein and utility forward Nico Janse van Rensburg back to Pretoria ahead of the 2025-26 season, and they will now benefit his successor.
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Ackermann’s biggest challenge will be to restore self-belief to players who were effectively told they weren’t good enough to win the URC and rebuild a strong culture that fell apart late in White’s tenure.
What sets Ackermann apart, according to those he has coached, is his ability to foster togetherness and channel it towards team success, which is exactly what the Bulls need after White’s exit.
Ackermann has set out his standards clearly: no player is guaranteed a jersey, whether a 100-cap veteran or a Junior Bok, and he values respect, trust and work-rate above all else.
His appointment as the man to win finals is ironic considering he lost two Super Rugby deciders with the Lions and the Challenge Cup final in his first season at Gloucester. He admitted as much during his first Bulls press conference, and said he’d “tick every box” in search of the extra 1% needed to clinch titles.
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Ackermann has also yet to experience the demands of navigating URC commitments in tandem with those in Europe, and it will be interesting to see if he does select strong teams for Champions Cup matches, as he said he intends to do, or ends up prioritising the URC as White – and indeed all South African franchise coaches – have done.
So, while Ackermann does appear to be the right man at the right time for the Bulls, he’ll need to deliver silverware to prove his president correct.
Photo: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images
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