Hawies Fourie

Hawies Fourie is a South African rugby union coach, currently in charge of Pro14 side the Cheetahs. He was also a fly-half, centre or fullback as a player.^[1]

Hawies Fourie

Rugby union career

Position(s) Fly-half / Centre / Fullback Amateur team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) –92 Victorians () 1993 Malmesbury () 1994–2000 Ceres () Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 1994–1995 Boland () Correct as of 28 October 2015 Coaching career Years Team 2001–2002 Ceres (head coach) 2002–2005 Boland Cavaliers (head coach) 2006 Stormers (backline coach) 2006 Boland Cavaliers (backline coach) 2007 Boland Cavaliers (head coach) 2007–2013 Free State Cheetahs (backline coach) 2007–2014 Cheetahs (backline coach) 2014–2015 Griquas (head coach) 2016–2019 Maties (head coach) 2019–2024 Cheetahs (head coach) 2024–present Boland (head coach)

Playing career

Fourie spent the majority of his playing career playing for amateur club sides in the Western Cape. He played for the University of Stellenbosch's Dagbreek Koshuis, as well as for the university's second team, Victorians. After playing club rugby for Malmesbury in 1993, he joined Ceres. After playing some provincial rugby for Boland in 1994 and 1995, he helped Ceres win the 1997 Boland Super League^[2] and also played in the National Club Championships for the side.

Coaching career

He took up coaching, eventually taking charge of Ceres, where he was in charge until 2002. In September of that year, he was appointed the head coach of provincial side the Boland Cavaliers^[3] He coached them until the end of 2005, when he joined Super Rugby side the Stormers as the backline coach.^[4] The Boland Cavaliers appointed Rudy Joubert as Director of Rugby and Fourie became the side's backline coach for the 2006 Currie Cup First Division. However, after the side's main sponsor Fidentia went into receivership, they were forced to release Joubert and once again appointed Fourie as the head coach.^[5]

After just a few months in charge, Fourie moved to Bloemfontein to take up a role as the backline coach for domestic side the Free State Cheetahs, as well as the affiliated Super Rugby side the Cheetahs.^[6] He remained in those roles for seven years, but left after the 2014 Super Rugby season to become the head coach of Kimberley-based side Griquas.^[7] He coached them for two seasons, on each occasion helping them qualify form the Currie Cup qualification series to participate in the Premier Division, before returning to Stellenbosch as the head coach of Varsity Cup side Maties.^[8]

Fourie led Free State Cheetahs to the 2023 Currie Cup title before leaving to join first division champions Boland, where he led them to a successful defence of their title in the 2024 Currie Cup First Division.^[9][10]