KZN opts to continue with a Sharks u17 Academy Week team

For a second year running KZN are set to select an under-17 Academy Week team for the 2023 under-18 youth week to be held at Jeppe School for Boys in Johannesburg.

This might not be every region’s cup of team but in KZN it proved to be a really good idea in 2022. The Sharks sent an under-17 team to the Week in 2022 and ended up as the unofficial winners.

As an overall, 2022 proved to be an excellent year for The Sharks high school teams as each one finished in the top 3 in their respective tournaments:

• Craven Week under-18 team – 3rd place,
  
• Grant Khomo under-16 team – 2nd place,
• Academy Week under-17 team, playing in an under-18 tournament – 1st place – undoubtedly the crowning jewel and justification for the bold decision made to pick a “stayers” team.

A Sharks under-18 Academy Week XV has also been listed for 2023, so the door will be open for players in their final year of youth week eligibility to travel to Jeppe as well.

Academy Week is very much a B-team event. It lives in the shadow of Craven Week. There is still recognition and opportunity for boys turning 18 in the relevant calendar year to attend Academy Week. It would be even better if it was played a week ahead of Craven Week and achievers were picked for an Invitation Team to attend Craven Week. That would be a massive boost for the image of Academy Week.

As an under-17 week, Academy Week would definitely take on new proportions. It would automatically become a premier event, drawing a lot more attention and prestige. It would be good for SARU development in terms of player identification. Remember they normally host these Green-Elite-High Performance age-group squads. Nevertheless decisions to change things have to be carefully weighed up. No one wants those boys turning 18 to become despondent about rugby by taking away another opportunity in what for most is their final year of school. Rugby is currently in a losing battle to retain its school player base which may one day have the impact of diminishing senior rugby’s following.

So back to KZN. Academy Week has never really been that big of a deal in the province in the past. There have even been isolated incidents of boys who missed out on Craven Week selection in previous seasons, pulling out of the Academy Week team to focus on other July holiday interests. Now as an under-17 program, Academy Week is set to prime time. One cannot dismiss the elements of talent, conditioning, the ability to overcome any quota obstacles and very importantly cohesion from the winning equation at a youth week event but perhaps The Sharks’ unexpected win with the youngest team at the tournament in 2022, says something about the value of motivation. While past teams may have arrived to just make up the numbers, clearly a group of boys turning 17 in the calendar year, still feel that they had much to prove ahead of their senior year.

KZN’s success at the youth weeks, is partly due to the increase in the talent pool depth made possible by the growing acceptance of imports – boys who start their high schooling in other provinces and due to their exceptional abilities, are offered sponsored places at the leading boys schools on the East coast. Since there are only 10 fairly wealthy top league rugby schools, it results in concentrated strength versus strength inter-schools improvement in the local system. The main recruitment region remains the poorer Eastern Cape, while the vast Noordvaal has also been a useful poaching catchment area. Of late, more and more Western Cape boys are forming part of the KZN inter-schools system while one of the Craven Week players of 2022 hailed from Bloemfontein.

List of 2022 KZN Under-17 players who featured in final trials and/or at provincial level.