IRB Junior World Championships 2014
Baby Boks play England in the final on Friday 20 June 2014 at 09h35…
u19, u20, u21 Rugby
Baby Boks team for 2nd Argentina match
SA Under-20 coach Dawie Theron made 11 changes from the team that overwhelmed Los Pumitas in the first encounter between the sides last Friday in Saldanha Bay on the West Coast.The SA U20 team to face their Argentinean counterparts on Tuesday at the Paul Roos Markötter Stadium in Stellenbosch at 15h00 on Tuesday, 6 May 2014:…
SA-u20 prepare for 3 Argentina matches
There is exactly one month to go until SA under-20’s first game against Scotland at the Junior World Championships in New Zealand. Helping to wrap up preparations for the tournament is the annual 3-match series against Argentina under-20. This year the matches will be held in South Africa.…
SA under-20 Baby Boks Squad finalised
The long selection process has come to an end with 28 players being selected to play at the Junior World Championships in New Zealand during June 2014.…
Sharks Academy’s Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival bursary prize success rate
Every year at the conclusion of the Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival selectors from The Sharks and Sharks Academy hand out bursary prizes to selected players. In 2014 there are three bursaries each valued at over R100 000 when including the contract with the Academy for 2015, accommodation and the tuition bursary with one of its education partners.
In terms of being a marketing tool, the concept is a huge success, as it draws a lot of media attention. As a method of recruitment, well you can judge for yourself …
Varsity Cup 2014 : UCT’s amazing comeback win! Unbelievable!
What a final! UCT looked dead and buried and then some at 33-15 after 73-minutes. Pukke’s machine of a hooker Armand van der Merwe (Duhan’s older boet) looked all set to be the Man of the Match. The fat lady was warming up her vocal cords, the engraver was about to incise the letters “N-W-U” on the cup but then it happened. The dramatic and incredible comeback. UCT scored once, scored twice! Got the score back to 33-31 down with virtually no time left. Then Pukke had the ball game with time up, hooter gone and a deep pass to flyhalf Johnny Welthagen in the pocket. All he had to do was kick the ball into touch, knock it on or kill play somehow but instead he went for the drop goal, got charged down and possession was turned over to the Ikeys students. Huge BMT followed and via some excellent composed handling the Tiger stripes created some space on an inside line and the rest is history. UCT 39 Pukke 33. What a great final!…
SA u20 training squad reduced to 36 players
From the SARugby.net website
April 04, 2014
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) on Friday named a reduced SA Under-20 training squad of 36 players for the remainder of the 2014 IRB Junior World Championship (JWC) training camp following two trial matches in Stellenbosch this week.
Baby Bok Junior World Cup preparations
Preparations for the under-20 Junior World Championships get into full swing starting on 31 March 2014. Here is the full squad for the first training camp by school:…
Varsity Cup & Young Guns 2014 logs, fixtures & results
Tables and results of the Varsity Cup and Young Guns (u20) competitions.…
Butch James invites the KZN school coaches to discuss u19 rugby
The correspondence from former Rugby World Cup winning Springbok flyhalf and Maritzburg College Old Boy, Butch James reads as follows: “please see attached invitation to join Jake White and Myself to a Cocktail Party to discuss U19 Rugby at the Sharks and other rugby matters going forward. Hope to see you there and to get your input.” …
Top u19 recruiter Gavin Melvill leaves the Sharks
Former Natal centre from the 1970’s Gavin Melvill makes up 17 years worth of a total of 227 years of coaching experience that will no longer be part of the Sharks set up as a result of personnel departures. Melvill has serviced in different roles at the rugby union but has always had a hands on approach with regards to the contracting of junior players. …
Young Guns Varsity Cup squads 2014
In an effort to get to grips with who is who in this year’s Young Guns competition, here is a start. An incomplete table containing many of the player’s names of six of the teams (Pukke & Wits missing) and where know, the schools they attended. …
SA u20 rugby training group 2014 by school & position
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) announces the names of the following players who have been identified to the SARU Under-20 Programme for 2014 in preparation of the IRB Junior World Championship which takes place in Auckland, New Zealand. …
Varsity Young Guns kicks off for under-20s
The under-20 version of the Varsity Cup gets underway on Monday, 10 February with UJ taking in NMMU and the Marties hosting traditional rivals the Ikeys. Both games act as certain-raisers to the Varsity Cup main games for the seniors.…
2014 Western Province u19’s could be as good as the 2010 team
The Western Province Rugby Institute (WPRI) recently held an opening function to welcome this year’s batch of aspiring professionals to their world class facility in Stellenbosch. Judging by the talent they managed to secure, there is every chance that a WP under-19 team coming out of this group could contain as much skill and potential as the successful WP under-19 team of 2010.…
OFS stands for Opportunity Free State
2013 was meant to be the Kings’ Super Rugby break though season but from a South African standpoint the tournament will probably be best remembered for the achievements of the Cheetahs from Free State.
The positives from that campaign seem to have reinvigorated Free State rugby. …
Sharks u19 contracted players for 2014
The Sharks only hand out a limited number of contracts every year and are very proud of their success rate which is up around 80% when it comes to converting schoolboy rugby players into professionals for the senior team. For 2014, fourteen talented players received contracts and there is a great deal of optimism around about the future prospects for all these youngsters. The Sharks placed emphasis on procuring forwards this year in terms of their succession planning.
Standing L->R: Petrus du Buson, Johan du Toit, Hyron Andrews, Ayron Schramm, Wandile Mazibuko, JL du Preez, Thomas du Toit, Ruan Kramer & Daniel du Preez.
Kneeling L->R: Philip Marais, Cameron Wright, Innocent Radebe, Marius Louw & Andrew du Plessis…
Smaller rugby schools’ players dominate Golden Lions awards 2013
This year’s annual Golden Lions awards ceremony turned out to be a fitting tribute to the big role smaller schools still play in developing talent for senior rugby. Some of those rewarded for achievement in the different team categories (u19, u21 and senior) schooled at the likes of Alberton, Bredasdorp, Hartswater, Marais Viljoen, Pretoria North, Standerton and Transvalia.…
EP Kings u19 contracted players for 2014
The EP Kings under-19 team did incredibly well to earn themselves promotion this year after hitting form towards the end of the Currie Cup B-division season. They came from third on the log to win the title and then beat Border in the promotion-relegation play-off. This means that their under-19 team will be playing against all the big unions in the under-19 A-division championship in 2014.…
Grey PE bombshell: Rory Duncan resigns
There was shock all around on Thursday, 21 November when Rory Duncan the head coach of Grey High School in Port Elizabeth unexpectedly handed in his resignation.…
Golden Lions u19 contracted players for 2014
The Golden Lions have their 40 schoolboy signings for 2014 in the bag. 2013 Beeld Trofee winners EG Jansen from Boksburg have been a team blessed with talent in all departments so it comes with little surprise that they are best represented school in the Lions under-19 group for 2014 with nine players. Amongst the names keep a close eye on Jansies No.8 Marco Holmes. At 1.85m and 95kg Holmes is a player similar in size and ability to Carel Greeff…
Blue Bulls u19 contracted players for 2014
The Blue Bulls named 41 schoolboy players.…
Potential Baby Bok training squad for November 2013
For the last three years, as the first step towards selecting a Baby Bok team to compete in the Junior World Championships, head coach Dawie Theron selected a group of about 50 players to attend an under-20 training camps down in the Western Cape during November. However in line with the progress comes change and for the JWC 2014, Theron has aborted the November training camp idea. It is believed that this will be replaced by a 7-week long training camp in 2014, in line with plans to improve results during the IRB tournament. …
u19 & u21 Currie Cup: Bulls eyeing 2 cups in 2013
Although this is Currie Cup final week and just about all the media attention during the build-up to Saturday’s big match is expected to be focused on the finalists Western Province and the Sharks, there is a little something that the Bulls can still get out of the season. Their under-19 team has been favourites to claim the title since day one of the season and their reinforced under-21’s, boosted by the return of several senior Currie Cup players including a Springbok to the age-group ranks, is looking equally hot ahead of the junior finals, which will also take place on Saturday at Newlands.…
Bitter sweet for EP Kings juniors
On Saturday, 19 October the Eastern Province Kings under-19’s gained promotion to the Absa under-19 Currie Cup A-division for 2014, achieved via a 27-20 victory over Border. However they then had to watch their EP under-21 team go down 23-21 to Border in the other junior rugby promotion-relegation match.…