Blog

In the highly competitive world of age group rugby, with an international under-20 tournament every year, it’s vital that all available junior talent is spotted and that the players with the potential to play at higher levels are brought into the system and developed in the right way.

That’s the view of SA under-20 head coach, Dawie Theron, who is in Polokwane this week at the Coca-Cola under-18 Craven Week running his expert eye over the players in action.

“It’s very important for us to be at all the Coca-Cola Youth Weeks to ensure that every player who has the potential is noted and that no-one slips through the cracks,” he said. “SA Rugby has been doing a great job in tracking players from the under-13 Coca-Cola Craven Week, through the Grant Khomo Week and into the under-18 Academy and Craven Weeks.”

“It’s through our involvement, and by using the opportunities provided by the Coca-Cola Youth Weeks, that we have been able to identify the likes of Handre Polalrd at an early age, and have been able to track his progress all the way to the SA under-20 team.”

Theron has had an opportunity to talk to all the players in Polokwane and he said he stressed to them that the pathway to the top has been shortened in recent times. “They need to realise that, for those who want it, and who are prepared to work hard, the next step is not very far away,” he said.

“Players like Siya Kolisi, Johan Goosen and Arno Botha were at this week just the other day, and they have played for the Springboks. That’s the motivation for the players. It’s up to us to identify them and then to work hard on their development.”

Theron is pleased with what he has seen in Polokwane so far this week. “We have had some high-scoring games, and some may say that indicates poor defences, but I believe the spirit in which the referees handle these games should take some credit for that. They are trying to keep the game going all the time and that will lead to more tries.”

He also believes the new scrumming laws have led to fewer scrum resets, and fewer penalties, and that means the ball is in play more, which will also result in more tries.

“That we have seen quite a few prop forwards run with the ball this week shows that they are spending less time with their faces in the grass, which has contributed to more open, attractive rugby.”

Western Province, Border and the Pumas on Wednesday had the Polokwane crowd singing their praises at the Coca-Cola Craven week as they outplayed their opposition for pleasing victories.

The Cape side’s 30-6 victory and Border’s 37-19 win – which marked back-to-back wins for the teams in the series – left the teams in a two-way race for a place in the final match of the tournament on Saturday.

The clash between the Blue Bulls and Western Province was thrilling from the outset, as the teams threw everything at each other in a physical battle. Such was the competitive nature of the clash Western Province were reduced to 13 men early on following yellow cards for dangerous tackles. But despite this, they scored the first points compliments of a penalty by Grant Hermanus.

The Bulls levelled the scores a few minutes later thanks to a penalty by Jemeel Warnick. But the Cape side dominated proceedings thanks to their powerful forwards, domination at the breakdowns and their smart game plan to string together several phases on attack. This earned them another penalty and a well-deserved try on the stroke of half time by Petrus Bothma to take a 13-3 lead.

The Bulls fought back with intent in the second half and created two try-scoring chances in the first 10 minutes, but the tenacious Western Province defence held them out. The Cape team again took control of the match by bursting over the advantage line and stretching the Bulls’ defence, which earned them two tries in nine minutes in the third quarter to shut the Bulls out and secure an emphatic 30-6 win.

Border, meanwhile, dominated possession and territory and forced Boland to defend for long periods, which set them up for their 37-19 victory. They supported this with a solid attacking display guided by flyhalf and man-of-the match Lungelo Gosa and outside centre Somila Jho, earning the team a satisfactory six tries. Boland’s main strength was their rolling mauls, but unfortunately they battled to gain much of an advantage from it.

The Pumas also produced a solid display for their 40–18 victory against KwaZulu-Natal. The clash started off conservatively with a penalty exchange between Pumas flyhalf Brandon Thomson and KwaZulu-Natal’s Kurt Webster. But the Pumas hit their straps two minutes before half time with flank Willandre Kotzenberg crashing over the tryline, which bolstered the team’s confidence significantly. The Durban side fought back early in the second half and they were particularly strong in the lineouts, but two tries in three minutes by the Puma’s Mzwakhe Fransman and Mauro Bucuchane in the last 10 minutes to add to Bucuchane’s early second-half try sealed the victory.

In the other matches, Namibia thumped Griquas 27-10, while Zimbabwe outclassed hosts, the Limpopo Blue Bulls 43-5.

In the main matches on Thursday Free State will meet the Golden Lions, while Eastern Province will take on neighbours SWD.

Scorers: 

Namibia 27 (6) – Tries: Johan Retief, Milaan van Wyk. Conversion: Chris Arries. Penalties: Arries (5). Griqualand West 10 (5) – Tries: Jacques van Zyl, Luke Mason.

Zimbabwe 43 (15) – Tries: Brandon Boshi, Barend Moolman, Brendon Mandivenga, Edo Chikwezero, Jabulani Mutukwa, Tawanda Ngosi. Conversions: Mandivenga (5). Penalty: Mandivenga. Limpopo Blue Bulls 5 (0) – Try: Saudevandre Rolls.

Border 37 (22) – Tries: Jedwyn Harty (3), Somila Jho (2), Michael Tyali. Conversions: Lungelo Gosa (2). Penalty: Gosa. Boland 19 (5) – Tries: Tiaan Lambrechts, Mishaun Arendse, Ewan Adams. Conversions: Leolin Zas (2).

Pumas 40 (13) – Tries: Mauro Bucuchane (2), Mzwakhe Fransman, Willandre Kotzenberg. Conversions: Brandon Thompson (4). Penalties: Thompson (4). KwaZulu-Natal 18 (6) – Tries: Kurt Webster, Kelvin Elder. Conversion: Webster. Penalties: Webster (2).

The Golden Lions and Free State beat SWD and Easter Province, respectively on the second day of the Coca-Cola Craven Week in Polokwane on Tuesday and in the process have likely set themselves up for what will be a semifinal in all but name on Thursday.

Although the Craven Week is not supposed to be knockout tournament, the race for the tournament’s only prize – a spot in Saturday’s final game of the week is fought between the big guns and the winners of Monday’s late games – The Blue Bulls and Western Province – meet on Wednesday, with the winners there probably going through to play the winners of the Free State v Lions clash in Saturday’s main game.

There were plenty of points scored on the second day of play, with one game drawn and several high-scoring thrillers.

The drawn game was a 37-all thriller between the Valke and Griffons, while the Golden Lions and SWD scored seven tries between them as the Lions ran out 34-27 winners.

The fortunes of the two sides fluctuated throughout the game – the Lions were well in control in the beginning,

while SWD looked like they were going to win early in the second half.

In the end it was solid defense and the good goal-kicking of flyhalf Erwin Harris that saw them home.

EP put up a brave fight against, they led at half time and looked capable of winning it, but they faded in the last quarter as the big Free State forwards took control, helping their side to a 32-21 win.

Eastern Province Country Districts beat the Northwest Leopards 35-10 in the early game, and Griquas Country Districts were too strong for Border Country Districts, beating them 51-0.

Tuesday’s Results

Eastern Province CD 35 Leopards 10

Griquas CD 51 Border CD 0
Valke 37 Griffons 37
Golden Lions 34 SWD 27
Free State 32 E Province 21

Wednesday’s Fixtures

09:30 Namibia v Griquas

11:00 Limpopo Blue Bulls v Zimbabwe
12:30 Boland v Border
14:00 KwaZulu-Natal v Pumas
15:30 Blue Bulls v Western Province

Thursday’s Fixtures

09:30 Leopards vs Border CD

11:00 Valke vs Griquas CD
12:30 Griffons vs Eastern Province CD
14:00 Eastern Province vs South Western Districs
15:30 Free State vs Lions

A feature of the Coca-Cola Under 18 Craven Week, down the years, has been the presence of aficionados – old timers who go along, year after year because they enjoy the type of rugby played, and because they fancy themselves as spotters of emerging talent.

At the 50th anniversary of the week in Polokwane this week is someone who is attending his 35th consecutive week and who was, in his playing days, one of the top wings in world rugby.

Gerrie Germishuys played 20 tests for South Africa between 1974 and 1981 and scored 11 test tries.

He then became a teacher, and later a lecturer at Goudstad College of Education and then University of Johannesburg (UJ). It’s has been for those two institutions that he has been attending the Craven Week, all these years , running his expert eye over the talent and making suggestions to his colleagues in the recruitment department.

This may well be his last Craven Week in that capacity – he retires next year – but he sees himself attending the week whenever it’s in the vicinity. “I have always loved schoolboy rugby and, although it has changed as professionalism has filtered down into the schools, I enjoy the competitiveness of the games at this level.”

As someone who was once a “flair” player himself, Germishuys bemoans the fact that the game has become a bit too structured. “I saw a very good wing on Monday, clearly very fast, but his team never got the ball too him once in the game,” he says. “I understand that game plans should be enforced, but why select players like that if you are not playing to your strengths?”

Germishuys believes the growing trend of taking contact instead of avoiding it is bad for rugby, and it’s one of the reasons why, at an international level, South African teams are unable to set up overlaps the way the Australians and New Zealand sides do.

“The pity is that, at this Craven Week, and it’s only day two, I have seen teams that play entertaining running rugby, and players with plenty of ability. I am afraid that their flair gets coached out of them at more senior levels by coaches who adopt a safety-first approach.”
Germishuys still believes that the Coca-Cola Craven Week is the greatest school rugby tournament in the world. “To have so many good players on display in one place is a feast for rugby-lovers like me. And for the universities and unions, it’s the perfect opportunity to make sure they have enough talent coming through the ranks.”

It’s reassuring to know that tomorrow’s heroes have the heroes of the past, like Gerrie Germishuys, up in the stands, taking note of what they are capable of.

Point Scorers 

20 – Daniel du Plessis (Western Province)
20 – Jonathan Steenkamp (Griqualand West Country Districts)
20 – Brendon Mandivenga (Zimbabwe)

Try Scorers

4 – Daniel du Plessis (Western Province)
4 – Jonathan Steenkamp (Griqualand West Country Districts)

Griqualand West Country Districts centre, Jonathan Steenkamp continued the trend of the first day which belonged to the centres when he scored four tries in his side’s comfortable 51-0 victory over Border Country Districts. This being Border Country Districts’ 12th successive defeat at the Coca-Cola Craven Week. 

Griqualand West Country Districts already lead 36-0 at the break, but could not keep up the pace of the first half in the second half. 

Scorers: 

Eastern Province Country Districts 35 (21) – Tries: Gordon Plaatjies, Sintu Manjezi, Qhama Masiza, Robert Ball. Conversions: Jason Vers (3). Penalties: Vers (3). Leopards 10 (5) – Tries: Michael Hurn, Eric Smith. 

Griqualand West Country Districts 51 (36) – Tries: Jonathan Steenkamp (4), Chris Opperman (2), Hendri Nel, Jasper Wiese, Junior Burger. Conversions: Clinton Toua (2), Cobus van Niekerk. Border Country Districts 0. 

Griffons 37 (23) – Tries: Gregan Hull (2), Nazo Nkala, Shaun Reynolds. Conversions: Reynolds (4). Penalties: Reynolds (3). Valke 37 (10) – Tries: Marco Holmes (2), Cameron Rooi, Ruan Potgieter, Sampie Hearn. Conversions: Potgieter (3). Penalty: Potgieter. Drop Goal: Potgieter.

Golden Lions 34 (20) – Tries: Ralton October, Gerdus van der Walt, Devon Henson, Gunther Janse van Rensburg. Conversions: Erwin Harris (4). Penalties: Erwin Harris (2). South Western Districts 27 (15) – Tries: Gene Willemse (2), Geor Malan, Jaydin Onckers, Dewald Human. Conversion: Dewald Human.