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. …
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.…
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.…
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. …
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…
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.…
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.…
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.…
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…
The Blue Bulls named 41 schoolboy players.…
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. …
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.…
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.…
The semi-finals of all the competitions take place starting on Friday afternoon. The log toppers of the u19’s were the Bulls while WP finished first in the u21’s. Both teams are expected to progress to their respective age-group finals. The real attention will be on the other two semis which are expected to be closely fought affairs. Here the Lions u19’s host the Sharks u19, while the Bulls u21 strengthened by the return of several senior Currie Cup players are home to the Sharks u21.
Two very important junior promotion-relegation matches between sides from Border and the Eastern Province Kings are also scheduled to take place this weekend.…
The list of schoolboy players involved in under-19 Currie Cup rugby continues to grow. This week EG Jansen’s successful captain Pieter Jansen will be in action for the Lions against Border while the selection of talented Innocent Radebe, the St Stithian’s and Golden Lions flyhalf on the Sharks under-19 bench for Saturday’s match against Western Province has come as a bit of a surprise.…
The under-19 and under-21 Currie Cup competitions are also nearing the playoff stages. Just one round of competition lies ahead with a few final log places still to be decided.…
The Bulls are expected to make a press release during September with regards to their 2014 contracted players. Look out for at least 8 SA Schools players to be in that mix. So they will be mounting another serious challenge for top honours come next season. For now though, it’s their powerful 2013 group who are living up to expectations and are currently 7 out of 7 in this year’s Absa under-19 competition. Their lead over the chasing pack is so big coming into this round that even their bye seems to have done little eat into the comfortably on top. …
This has been in the air for a while: talk that a possibly reason behind the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Varsity Cup campaign struggles to really get off the ground is the Sharks who see the Varsity’s potential rise to prominence as a threat to their own institution, namely the Sharks Academy. In other regions, there appears to be a good working relationship between the rugby unions and the varsities. So I asked the about the Academy’s general feeling towards the UKZN Impis and the appointment of John Mitchell as their new director of coaching and here’s the response I received:
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Under the guidance of under-19 head coach Andre Tredoux, Free State have worked very hard on recruitment this year. Helped by the Cheetahs excellent 2013 Super Rugby season, all the effort put in seems to have paid off. The 2014 group is a strong one, filled with known talent as well as a few wildcards who could just go on to become the next big thing in SA rugby. All-in-all 3 SA Schools players are part of a talented squad that should do very well in the under-19 Currie Cup next season. Apologies, although provided the names of Gunther Janse van Rensburg and WP Eloff were overlooked but have now been added.
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The Western Province Rugby Institute (WPRI) has released their list of 43 players that will be at their facility for the best part of 2014. It is possilby their strongest ever assembled squad with 11 SA Schools players and 19 or so other Craven Week players. …
The Junior (under-19 and under-21) Currie Cup seasons have already reached the halfway mark. The Blue Bulls finally seem t o be getting it right at under-19 level. This year’s under-19 team is undefeated and leads the way in their age-group, which the Bulls haven’t won since they implemented their huge recruitment drive under head scout Xander Janse van Rensburg. Much time and money went into compiling the Bulls teams of 2010, 2011 and 2012 and each year they had to settle for second place. Western Province win the title in 2010 and 2012 while the Golden Lions claimed the honours in 2011. …
This weekend’s outstanding 51-33 result by the Sharks under-19’s against the formidable Free State Cheetahs must have come a blessing in disguise. The Sharks coaches would have backed their boys to achieve this kind of success later in the season but following a home defeat the Lions a fortnight ago, the away victory this early on must surely have been a pleasant surprise to those who work with the team.…
Update: u19 WP 10 – 34 Bulls. u21: WP 14 – 6 Bulls. The Western Province under-19 and under-21 teams face uphill battles today when they take on the Bulls team City Park in Cape Town today (first kick-off:13h30). This season along their way to securing age-group the three major age-group titles, Province have beaten the Bulls every time.…
It’s still early days still but the indications are that the Bulls are a notch above all their opponents in this years under-19 national championship. A convincing 9-try, 61 points drubbing of the Leopards in game 1 of the season didn’t say too much on it’s own at the time but when the Leopards went down to the Cape and beat the unsettled defending champions Province albeit with entirely new personal off course, sudden the Bulls victory took on new meaning. …
The KZN under-18 Craven Week team as well as the Sharks under-19 and under-21 teams were in action against Border teams on Saturday.…
The Baby Boks ended their IRB Junior World Championships 2013 experience on a high note by coming from 21-0 down to beat the New Zealand Baby Blacks 41-34 in a very entertaining match for third place. The Saffas played 5, won 4 and lost just 1 in the last minute at this year’s tournament in France. Judging by the quality of today’s performance the team had it in them to be the overall winners.…
Updated. The International Rugby Board named Sam Davies of Wales from their shortlist of three nominees as the IRB Junior Player of the Year 2013. This announcement was made following the final at the Stade de la Rabine in Vannes on Sunday which England won 23-15 against Wales.…
The game that no one ever wants to play takes place 15:15 this afternoon. South Africa and New Zealand have to find motivation from somewhere to lift themselves for this third-place playoff at the under-20 IRB Junior World Cup.…
Defending under-20 champions South Africa our out of the Junior World Championships after losing 18-17 to Wales in the first semi-final. With 2 minutes left on the clock, SA were leading 17-11. Wales then scored a clever try after looking like the less composed team in the closing stages. The architect was their flyhalf Sam Davies who then became even more of a hero when he slotted the difficult conversion to hand his team a 1-point lead which they held onto after a really stupid kickoff option by the Baby Boks, who needed to regain possession, had zero effect.…
The Baby Boks will face Wales under-20 in the first semi-final of the IRB Junior Rugby Championship being held in France. Kickoff is at 18:15 on Tuesday 18 June 2013. The winners of this game will meet the winners of the England versus New Zealand semi on 23 June. The second game will also be played later on the same evening at 20:45. Both matches will be televised on Supersport.…
Eish! This was not a good performance. The Baby Boks did not play as a team, had very little structure and made some fundamental errors but were still good enough to beat a very spirited French team 26-19. The game excited the home crowd and the French team fed off this passion but it was very much a start stop affair with tons of basic errors and with just bits of individual brilliance rather than teamwork ruling the day. …
The Baby Bok team to play France in the final round of pool games at 20:45 on Thursday, 13 June 2013 has been announced. The big news is that SA’s star player Handre Pollard has been moved back to flyhalf after a miserable outing at inside centre against England. Pollard played flyhalf for the victorious JWC team of 2012, while he was still a schoolboy at Paarl Gymnasium.…
The South African under-20 team moved one big step closer to a place in IRB Junior World Cup semi-finals with a vital 31-24 win against England in a Pool A match. This was mainly due to a very good start which saw the Baby Boks playing with good continuity and flair.…
Starting at 16h45 on Sunday, 09 June the SA under-20 team faces a critical challenge at the IRB Junior World Champions in France when they play England. Although it’s defined as a pool match, it’s is a knockout game of sorts, from which the winners placing themselves in a very strong position to advance to the semi-finals and the losers facing the distinct probability of being eliminated from the first place chase.…
The IRB Junior World Championships for under-20’s being in France today. Although the South African Baby Bokke have an easy first assignment against the USA, they are in the pool of death along with France and England.…
Waterkloof’s impressive 2011/12 centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg was arguably the best player at Craven Week in 2012. The solidly built SA Schools centre has been called up to replace Jan Serfontein (Grey College 2010/11) for the up and coming Junior World Championships in France starting in June.…
An injury sustained during the Kings Super Rugby campaign has ruled Grey High and SA Schools 2012 wing Sergeal Petersen out of the 2013 under-20 Junior World Champs in France, starting in June.
His replacement is fellow 2012 SA Schools player Jesse Kriel.…
Dawie Theron has named his final team of 28 players to take part in the Junior World Championships in France during June.
The team will be captained by former Monnas and SA Schools captain Stoney Steenkamp and includes 11 SA Schools players from 2011 and 2012.…
The Los Pumitas have beaten the Baby Boks 2-1 in a series in Argentina. After winning the opening match 26-3, the SA under-20 team lost the next two games 27-42 and 22-27.
On the one hand it’s pleasing to see the juniors getting valuable game time as a unit ahead of the Junior World Championships in France in June. However one just has to ask the question again: do we have our best players on board? …
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