2012 SA Schools players are bigger than 1992 Boks

21 August, 2012 beet General 5

It is just over 20 years to the day since South Africa gained readmission to the international rugby arena. Rugby has changed a fair bit in terms of the rules and the way it is played in that time but remains a game loved passionately by many South Africans both young and old. It was therefore interesting to compare some of the statistics of the first Bok team selected back in 1992 to those of the current SA Schools team.

On 15 August 1992, the Springboks played New Zealand in their first official post isolation rugby test match.  The Bok starting line-up consists entirely of players classified as amateurs and includes aging legends Naas Botha and Danie Gerber, two men that must surely be regarded as amongst the finest  to have ever played the wonderful game of rugby union. There were other very highly rated players like Jannie Breedt, Wahl Bartmann and Uli Schmidt but the in truth just about every name on the Bok team sheet was a household one with tons of local experience. In fact, at the time of selection the biggest surprise inclusion(at least to me it was considering the good form Bulls wing Deon Oosthuizen had been in), was that of then Transvaal youngster James Small on the right wing. An almost full strength Springbok team would go on to lose that match 27-24 to a very good All Black team. 

Almost 20 years later to the day, an SA Schools team gets selected out of 28 squad members to play against France under-18 in their first game of a quadrangular under-18 internationals series, with England and Wales being the other two teams participating.  None of the boys  in the team were born before 1994, the year South Africa toured New Zealand for the first time since readmission. The most well known local school player is Handre Pollard who is set to ply his trade at Loftus in Pretoria in the Blue Bulls number 10 jersey made famous by Naas Botha many years before Pollard was born.  The SA Schools team went on to beat France in their opening game and then toppled Wales and England as well along their way to winning the series. 

When comparing the size and heights of the 1992 Boks to the 2012 SA Schools team, it makes for interesting reading and gives some perspective to just how far rugby has come in the last 20 years.

Average Age: Boks 28½ years old; SAS 17½ years old

Average Height: Boks 186.7cm; SAS 187.1cm

Average Weight: Boks 96.2kg; SAS 97.7kg

Pack Avg Height/Weight: Boks 190cm/843kg; SAS 191cm/844kg

Tight 5 Avg Height/Weight: Boks 189cm/525kg; SAS 192cm/548kg

Frontrow Avg Height/Weight: Boks 181cm/305kg; SAS 185cm/337kg

# Springbok School Prov DOB Age Height Weight
15 Theo van Rensburg Potchefstroom Gym N/Tvl 26/05/1967 25 178 78
14 James Small Greenside Tvl 10/02/1969 23 182 89
13 Danie Gerber Despatch WP 14/04/1958 34 185 88
12 Pieter Muller Grey College Natal 05/05/1969 23 190 90
11 Pieter Hendriks Standerton Tvl 13/04/1970 22 182 92
10 Naas Botha Hendrik Verwoerd N/Tvl 27/02/1958 34 179 78
9 Robert du Preez THS Potchefstroom Natal 19/07/1963 29 182 85
8 Jannie Breedt Kempton Park Tvl 04/06/1959 33 193 101
7 Ian McDonald HTS Rhodesfield Tvl 22/02/1968 24 195 112
6 Wahl Bartmann Florida Natal 13/06/1963 29 188 105
5 Adolf Malan Pietersburg N/Tvl 06/09/1961 30 204 112
4 Adri Geldenhuys PW Botha, George N/Tvl 11/07/1964 28 198 108
3 Lood Muller Voortrekker (PMB) Natal 05/07/1959 33 182 106
2 Uli Schmidt Hendrik Verwoerd Tvl 10/07/1961 31 180 93
1 Heinrich Rodgers Harrismith N/Tvl 23/06/1962 30 182 106
AVERAGE 28.5 186.7 96.2
# SA Schools Union School DOB Age Height Weight
15 Jesse  Kriel KwaZulu-Natal Maritzburg Coll 15/02/1994 18 185 94
14 Sergeal  Petersen Eastern Province Grey PE 01/08/1994 18 171 82
13 Sandile  Kubeka KwaZulu-Natal Kearsney 03/07/1994 18 178 82
12 Rohan  Janse van Rensburg Blue Bulls Waterkloof 11/09/1994 17 186 100
11 Duhan  van der Merwe SWD Outeniqua 04/06/1995 17 192 93
10 Handré  Pollard Western Province Paarl Gim 11/03/1994 18 189 96
9 Justin  Phillips Blue Bulls Waterkloof 03/02/1996 16 180 74
8 Jano  Venter Pumas HTS Middelberg 08/01/1994 18 192 103
7 Jean-Luc  du Preez KwaZulu-Natal Kearsney 05/08/1995 17 193 105
6 Thabo  Mabuza Blue Bulls Centurion 01/03/1994 18 182 88
5 JD  Schickerling Western Province Paarl Gim 09/05/1995 17 203 103
4 Gideon  Koegelenberg Boland Hugenote 25/11/1994 17 199 108
3 Dayan  van der Westhuizen Blue Bulls Centurion 05/04/1994 18 184 116
2 Malcolm  Marx Golden Lions KES 13/07/1994 18 188 109
1 Pierre  Schoeman Blue Bulls Affies 07/05/1994 18 184 112
            AVERAGE       17.5     187.1       97.7

Leave a Reply

5 Comments

  1. avatar
    #5 Greenwood

    Article -Modern day Schoolboy Rugby players (SA Scool Team) being bigger than ’92 bok team

    I told the guys at work about this – they said I was talking Cr–p I printed the article and handed it out , now they are all taking about it and sending this to their mates who in turn didn’t believe them – interesting stats these

    ReplyReply
    27 August, 2012 at 13:48
  2. avatar
    #4 Grasshopper

    If Marx is 109kg then I must be 150kg. I saw the kid play last year and he was at most 98kg. Has he put on 11kg of muscle in a year?

    ReplyReply
    21 August, 2012 at 16:09
  3. avatar
    #3 beet

    @Greenhopper: It would be interesting. I have a feeling the Bok backs would not have been able to cope with the size of some of their schoolboy counterparts. Kids like Rohan JvR, Jesse Kriel and Duhan vdM, even Pollard are like old Tuigamala used to be. They would find it difficult to bring them down. Also conditioning in the last quarter might weigh heavily against the ’92 Boks

    ReplyReply
    21 August, 2012 at 15:58
  4. avatar
    #2 Greenhopper

    so who would have won then??

    i said a while ago , the GW 1st team of 2008 could and would have competed very well against the Natal Team of say 1985 area,

    the above has put more weight behind my argument

    ReplyReply
    21 August, 2012 at 15:41
  5. avatar
    #1 Pedantic

    Interesting that the du Preez twins matched their old man’s adult stats in their 1st year of high school! :shock:

    ReplyReply
    21 August, 2012 at 12:01