The Malta Rugby Football Union is delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Phil Pretorius as the new Head Coach of the Malta Rugby national men’s team, together with an exciting support staff.
Dr Pretorius was appointed after a rigorous selection process which saw the Malta Rugby Football Union (MRFU) receive over 100 applications for the vacant post of Head Coach of the Malta national men’s team.
Hailing from South Africa, Dr Pretorius brings with him an excellent rugby background made up of close to 30 years of coaching across the globe.
He has led four international teams – the South African Barbarians, Tonga, the Cayman Islands, and more recently the Czech Republic. In his tenure with the Czech Republic between 2017 and 2019, Dr Pretorius led the restructuring of Czech rugby – a process which ultimately culminated in the country gaining promotion to the Rugby Europe Trophy competition, and entering the top 30 in World Rugby’s rankings for the first time ever.
Beyond that, he has significant experience at club level, having coached the Blue Bulls and having coached over 200 matches at Currie Cup level in South Africa. He also boasts coaching experience in Ireland with the Galway Corinthians, achieving record results in domestic competitions, and further experience as Head Coach and Director of Rugby at Stellenbosch University, where he headed South Africa’s biggest university rugby club, Maties Rugby.
“I’m very happy to have Dr. Phil on board as our national team coach. Along with his professional, rugby skill set, which has been tested in a long and distinguished career, he has the right temperament for Malta rugby at this stage of development,” MRFU President Gerald Strickland said.
Joining the fold as Forwards and S&C Coach is 2011 World Cup winner Brad Thorn.
In a playing career spanning some 22 years, Thorn was capped 59 times for New Zealand, winning five Bledisloe Cups, three Tri-Nations competitions, two NPC titles, one European Rugby Champions Cup, and the 2011 World Cup, where he became the oldest player to play in a World Cup final – a record which still stands today.
After his retirement from playing, he coached Queensland Country in the National Rugby Championship in Australia before then being appointed to coach the Queensland Reds in Super Rugby – a post he held between 2018 and 2023.
This won’t be the first time in Malta for Thorn as he has a special connection to the islands, since his wife is Maltese.
Also joining the new staff will be Jaike Carter, who comes onboard as Backs Coach and Malta Sevens Head Coach.
An elite international Rugby 7s player, Carter has represented Spain in this sport around the world in the Sevens World Series.
He will be a familiar face in the setup, having coached the Malta men’s Rugby Sevens team into the 2025 Games of the Small States of Europe, where Malta won a bronze medal.
“I would like to take the opportunity to welcome Brad and Jaike to the national coaching set up. This coaching combination is a first for our national rugby team, and hopefully a dream set up for our national team players, who we expect to respond accordingly,” MRFU President Strickland said on the appointments.
The MRFU welcomes Dr Pretorius, Thorn, and Carter to Malta and looks forward to seeing the positive impact they will have on the Malta players, both on and off the field, as Maltese rugby takes its next steps toward an exciting future.
