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
| # | Name | School | Position | Craven Week | Highest level | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thomas du Toit | HJS Paarl BH | Loosehead Prop | W. Prov & SA Schools 2013 | SA Schools 2013 | Simply put, he is a machine. A player for Sharks fans to get very excited about. Thomas weights 132kg and recently tested the best of all the new Sharks players meaning that is power and speed were off the charts. He in fact ran a 5.4 seconds for the 40m dash which is insane. He’s a good ball carrier in the loose and looks to have a sound scrumming technique. |
| 2 | Andrew du Plessis | Grey College | Hooker | Free State Craven Week 2013 | Playing 1st XV for Grey College is no mean feat and Andrew du Plessis has stood out as a prop in that Grey College side for two years. He is a strong player with a super workrate and unshakeable commitment. He is as tough as they come. The Sharks haven’t see too much of him at hooker outside of testing and Craven Week 2013 but he ticks all the boxes as far as being able to turn him into a senior pro one day are concerned. | |
| 3 | Ruan Kramer | Grey College | Tighthead Prop | Free State Craven Week 2012/3 | SA Schools 2013 | Ruan was Grey College’s primary ballcarrier. Two things that stood out was that he didn’t ever get dominated in the collisions near the fringes where defenders were often ready in wait for him and he never seemed to run out of steam, which is very impressive for a big guy. He is also one of the strongest scrummers coming out of school. |
| 4 & 5 | Daniel & JL du Preez | Kearsney | Lock / Blindside flank | KZN 2011/2/3 | SA Schools 2012/3 | At times it seems unfair to couple the Du Preez twins, the sons of former Bok scrumhalf Robert, but they look alike and their style of play is so similar. Making SA Schools for two years in a row speaks volumes about the impact they have made at school level. They first represent KwaZulu-Natal at Craven Week with distinction as 15 year olds. Raw power has been the name of their game. The du Preezs have proven almost impossible to stop from going forward and have been responsible for some of the biggest bounces witnessed on school rugby fields anywhere. On defence they have manhandled more than their fair share of worthy big ball-carriers, sometimes just effortlessly picking them up and driving these big players backwards. Rugby isn’t just about the physical stuff though and these twins are some exceptional ball players with silky skills. In spite of their strength and ability bash it up, they don’t like to die with the ball, so they have been working hard to master the art of offloading in the tackle. |
| 6 | Petrus de Buson | HTS Middelburg | Lock | Pumas Craven Week 2012 | As one of the high quality players to come out of the very successful HTS Middelburg 2013 team, Petros was very unlucky not to go to Craven Week this year but the 2m tall lock proved his worth by winning two Man of the Match awards at Academy Week and proving to be one of the best players on display at the tournament. | |
| 7 | Hyron Andrews | Garsfontein | Lock | Blue Bulls Craven Week 2012/3 | The Sharks won the tug o’war with the Bulls for the services this 2.03m tall lock with an Albert van den Berg like frame. Hyron is an athletic player who gets around the park quickly. He has fantastic hands in the lineout. Although not regarded as a physical lock, he has been described as having the necessary aggro in him to cut it as a rugby player at a higher level. | |
| 8 | Marius Louw | Grey College | Openside Flank | Free State Craven Week 2012/3 | SA u18 Sevens | Marius is an x-factor player. He possesses explosive speed off the mark and is strong on his feet. His power game comes to the fore in contact where he is also able to use a lethal hand-off to help him gain more metres. He is expected to be developed into an openside flank, a position in which the Sharks are in short supply right now. He is not the tallest player around but has the mental and physical maturity that might see him fast-tracked to u21 rugby sooner rather than later. |
| 9 | Wandi Mazibuko | Glenwood | Flank / maybe Wing | KZN 2013 | Wandi has a great set of hands, good anticipation and a surprising burst of speed. As a first change ball-runner he often exploits the spaces that open up in defences. He lacks the size to continue playing blindside flank after school and will probably have to undergo the biggest learning curve of all the new players as he may have to slot in at openside flank or possibly even wing. He was the Glenwood captain and has a good attitude. | |
| 10 | Philip Marais | Welkom Gim | Undecided | The younger brother of Peet and Jandre Marais is a bit of an enigma. He is the SA 110m hurdles champ at age group level and was the fastest of all the Sharks new players in testing. Although he is quite a tall guy at 1.96m, there is talk of possibly using him on the wing. | ||
| 11 | Johan du Toit | Swartland | Blindside flank / Lock | Boland 2013 | The younger brother of Pieter-Steph du Toit is a little shorter at 1.94m but has that same big never-say-die big heart that is making his brother such a big hit amongst Bok fans. This is a player who could go far just based on attitude alone and the Sharks are really excited about his unearthing his hidden potential over the next couple of seasons. | |
| 12 | Ayron Schramm | Kearsney | No.8 | KZN 2013 | Sharks u19 2013 | Arguably the best player in KZN in 2013. Ayron played like a star producing top quality performances each and every time. Kearsney had a nice collection of good players in spread across the field but time and time again it was Ayron who employed his superior skillls and proved to be the go-to man that ultimately got over the advantage line and set them up with value front-foot. Perhaps not the most physical No.8 in SA SBR in 2013, but he presented a strong case for being the most classy of the lot in SA. The combination of speed, positional understanding and execution made him a handful for just about every defence he came up against. His ability to be the link between forwards and backs has contributed to a building excitement about his future potential at the next few levels up after SBR. An untimely injury at Craven Week ended his challenge for SA Schools honours but even so there were enough knowledgeable rugby gurus that watched the KZN-Bulls game and said he was desperately unlucky not to have received a national team spot. |
| 13 | Cameron Wright | Hilton | Scrumhalf | KZN Craven Week | Sharks u19 2012/3 | Cameron has 2 years of Sharks u19 experience behind him now. He is thea real deal. The full-house when it comes to scrumhalf skills: a strong accurate pass, a huge box kick, penetrating fringe sniping ability and most importantly outstanding quick decision-making. SA rugby is crying out for good scrumhalves, he could develop into one of the best. Cameron will be u20 this season. |
| 14 | Innocent Radebe | St Stithians | Flyhalf | Lions 2012/3 | Sharks u19 2013 | Innocent has been described as a natural ball player. The Saints flyhalf has a solid all-round game. He has great peripheral vision with combined with his good passing game, means that he can put players around him into space and he is equally comfortable playing flat and in the pocket. Both his place and kicking out of hand are of a high standard. He was a little unlucky not to have made SA Schools in 2013 |
Together with Province, if all these boys play the u19 season, could be the team to beat! This pack will dominate the u19 CC, including WP..
Hopefully there will be some exciting backs to compliment the forwards
Three very good acquisitions from GCB- all have the potential to become Boks.From a personal point of view, just sorry that they have not remained in the FS.
Great group! A little forward heavy, but hopefully they will all make the step up to the Sharks main side in 5 years. Good luck guys, I’ll be looking out for all their names. Mazibuko is a tough one, either he bulks up and become a fetcher or works on his raw pace to become a centre or wing…