Rugby might be edging toward its own version of the NFL quarterback headset, and a Currie Cup encounter in Bloemfontein just gave us a glimpse of why, writes DEVIN HERMANUS.
Faf de Klerk was Man of the Match in the Cheetahs’ 43-21 win over the Sharks XV last Friday. During a break in play, cameras caught him talking animatedly into a handset, and head coach Frans Steyn later confirmed who was on the other end.
“If Faf has something on his mind and picks up the radio to share it with me, I love it,” he said. “I’m not out there on the field with them. We in the coaches’ box see things from a different perspective than the players do on the pitch.
“And after Faf and I spoke over the radio, there was a shift in the game. If I’m not mistaken, we scored points shortly afterwards.”
That’s a scrumhalf feeding real-time information upward, not just receiving instructions. It’s a small shift, but a telling one.
South African rugby has never been shy of blurring the lines of sideline communication. Rassie Erasmus was doing it as Cheetahs coach back in 2006, using coloured cards and then colour-coded lamps atop the Free State Stadium to send messages to his players.
He revived a version of that at the 2023 World Cup, using lights from the Springbok coaches’ box with assistant Felix Jones during a win over Scotland.
And Erasmus famously turned waterboy duties into an extra line of communication during the 2021 British & Irish Lions series, drawing accusations of overreach in the process.
Jacques Nienaber borrowed the same trick coaching Leinster in the 2024 Investec Champions Cup final, deep in conversation with match officials before addressing the players directly.
None of that is an accident. It’s a coaching culture that keeps hunting for an edge in the gap between what’s visible from the box and what’s felt on the field.
Other sports have already formalised it. The NFL fits radio receivers into the helmets of the quarterback and one defensive player per team, though the flow only runs one way, from coach to player.
Julian Nagelsmann wanted football to go further. Speaking in 2021 while at Bayern Munich, the German coach argued for a two-way system: “This is something that we absolutely need in football.”
De Klerk and Steyn showed rugby what that looks like in practice, without a formal system built for it. A flyhalf or captain wired into the coaches’ box in real time could flag referee tendencies, opposition shape or fatigue before the box has even processed it themselves.
Rugby already lets coaches talk to players. The next step is trusting players to talk back, mid-game, and having coaches actually act on it.
That Bloem radio call might be a preview of where the sport is headed.
Photo: Floris van Schouwenburg/Gallo Images
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Rugby might be edging toward its own version of the NFL quarterback headset, and a Currie Cup encounter in Bloemfontein just gave us a glimpse of why.
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