Corniel Van Zyl was appointed as Assistant Coach in January 2021.

The South African made the move from Free State Cheetahs, where he has held a similar role since 2015.

During his playing days, van Zyl spent the majority of his career in Italy, for Treviso, where he amassed over 150 appearances in an eight-year spell.

The move to Italy saw van Zyl take his first steps towards test rugby, where he represented Italy A before being named as one of two uncapped players in the Italians’ 2011 World Cup squad.

He played in four of Italy's World Cup matches, starting three times, and would earn another four caps for Italy, with the last arriving in 2012 against Wales.

He retired from professional rugby in 2015, playing the last of his 160 matches for Treviso.

Thereafter, van Zyl moved into coaching the Cheetahs, for whom he featured on 48 occasions as a player earlier in his career.