After watching a Gloucester match in the English Premiership last weekend, this week gone past I could not help but think of something Garsfontein deputy headmaster Retief Smith wrote last April.
As part of an introduction, those that had looked at the recent post on the ages of various rugby schools, would have seen that Garsfontein age next birthday will be 34. Retief Smith has been at the Pretoria co-ed for a mammoth 32 years. Every school has at least one staff member with a long service history like this and the enduring characteristic is that their school becomes their heart-beat. Retief is no exception. He is deeply passionate about all things Garsies.
PART ONE – THE VISIONARY
As part of piece on the outstanding achievement of Old Bere rugby players, during early April Retief penned:
“Die ander speler wat oorsee sy merk maak en ook die Beretrui met trots gedra het, is Ruan Ackermann. By Gloucestershire presteer hy so goed dat hy as as ‘n toekomstige kandidaat vir die Rose beskou word”
Basically translated, it stated that Garsfontein old boy Ruan Ackermann was performing so well at Gloucester rugby club in England, that he was considered a future candidate for the England national team.
At the time, I thought the analysis was perhaps a bit presumptuous. Ruan Ackermann had been a player who’s two big post-school professional breaks had come while his father, Johan had been head coach first at the Lions and then Gloucester. Apart from that question-mark about the young loose-forward standing on his own two feet, by April 2021, Ackermann wasn’t exactly producing noteworthy performances while several English born rivals were doing off the charts stuff just about every weekend, to the extent that the England coach, Eddie Jones who seemingly did his best to ignore them, eventually succumbed to public pressure/common sense or both and now two of those guys, Sam Simmonds and Alex Dombrandt are currently in the national team for this year’s Six Nations Championship.
However in fairness to Retief, he did use the term “future” when describing Ackermann. If one had to quiz the Premiership rugby gurus right now, well the name Ackermann would be accompanied by all kinds of superlatives. That’s because his current form is sublime. He is red hot property right at the moment. With Johan Ackermann plying his trade in Japan for the past few years, finally Ruan has also put to rest any suggestions about dad being over-influencing on his career.
Naturally talk about Ruan’s previously stated desire to represent England has resurfaced and entering the equation is whether he can be persuaded to consider a Bok call-up, should the offer be presented. With past examples of former locals Jake Boer, Dom Armand and Michael Rhodes to fall back on, brilliant club form is sometimes not enough to win or hold down an international cap for matches that matter when it comes to the Lillywhites. So thumbs-crossed that young Ackermann’s form can be recognized and rewarded by his country of birth instead.
PART TWO – SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO BE THE VILLIAN TO BECOME THE HERO
April 2021 turned out to be a very eventful month, thanks to an open letter written by Retief about the preseason preparations of schools from the Western Cape versus those from the Gauteng and how it translated on the scoreboard at 2021 edition of the very popular annual Noord-Suid tournament in Pretoria, which attracts some of the best rugby high schools in South Africa. The Cape big guns handed out several unexpected one-sided whacks while their so-called B-league teams accounted for major upsets in 2021.
Obviously the letter did not impress many with an interest in schoolboy rugby residing South of the Cape Fold Mountains and a few were quite verbal in their outrage. Those in the North with influence seemed to be in agreement with the letter to the point that there was an imbalance of sorts that had played out in the results but chose to rather avoid the public speculation, rather keeping the peace in the absence of concrete evidence in support of what was written.
Anyway in a Covid-shortened season, the letter turned out to be the most topical off the field post of the year. Senior provincial rugby in this country has become monotonous and keen interest in the outcomes, seem to be on a downward spiral. If nothing else, that letter from April 2021 is a reminder to everyone that schoolboy rugby still has plenty of life and a support base who follow it with great excitement and fulfillment.
All this said, the bottom-line is there are not many who want to follow a premier annual festival where the outcomes are very predictable and margins of victory are large. That status has and should continue to be reserved for mainly forgettable tournaments involving matches against overseas teams.
So in the context of promoting strength-versus-strength matches which result in festivals that pay homage to the depth of talent present in SA, I suspect that the letter has subconsciously played a part in how the teams, particularly those from the North approach the preseason ahead of the 2022 official kickoff. It will come as a surprise if any of the regular participants of Noord-Suid in 2022 is branded as “undercooked”.
@boerboel: Wie ondersteun jy as ek mag vra?
@Jong Matie:
hul is nou na Grey Bloem seker die grootste werwers
@Jong Matie: Daai is ń groot stelling om te maak. Jy weet hier is ook PR old boys op die blog né? Ons wag dan geduldig vir jou definisie….
@Jong Matie: definieer wat is “home grown talent”?
@Jong Matie: Well done Jong Matie, ons sien dit in jul resultate, hou so aan.
@boerboel: Paul Roos is renowned for developing their own, home grown talent.
Not denying recruitment at all big rugby schools.Its the way its being done.
@Pamos:You are correct and Boerboel is still living on his own planet.
If you can name me a top 20 rugby school that does not do this, then I’d be surprised.
@Pamos: ruthless buying of players all over the country instead of developing their own
@boerboel: What do you mean by this?
I am not a fan of these barbarian type of teambuilding that is rife at schools like Garsfontein,Glenwood and Stellenburg for example.