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20 top South African schoolboys raided by overseas clubs as World Rugby's five-year residency rule drives younger recruitment

South African schools players celebrate a try in 2018. (Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

World Rugby’s change to international qualification by residency is already having an impact in South Africa with Afrikaans newspaper Rapport reporting that up to 20 top schoolboy players have been recruited to move overseas next year.

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The residency rule is set to increase next year from 36 months to 60 months in December 2020 in an effort to add more credibility to the international game but it has already triggered a recruitment drive at younger ages to circumvent the rule.

Continue reading below…

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Sport24 has identified 19 South African schoolboy stars that have signed deals with overseas clubs, with more in talks to move abroad at such a young age straight out of school. With the FFR cracking down on the number of non-eligible French players allowed in the Top 14, the clubs are importing schoolboys that will likely become eligible for the national side in later years.

South African schoolboys are heading to academies at French Top 14 clubs Montpellier, Toulon, Stade Français and Pau while others are heading to Australia, Japan, Ireland, and England.

Seven of the players are from the country’s top-ranked school Grey College in Bloemfontein while other rugby powerhouses Paarl Boys High, Paarl Gim, and Paul Roos have been similarly raided.

The outcome for South African rugby is far worse than losing the likes of Handre Pollard and Faf de Klerk as established Springbok players to Europe, who are still available for the international side.

The very real danger exists that the youth players of South Africa will qualify under the five-year rule for other nations and never become Springboks.

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Top 14 clubs setting up academies, instead of buying off-the-shelf pros, is the worst possible scenario for cash-strapped unions that will now struggle to compete against wealthy club owners at the lower end of the recruitment market.

SARU’s changes to the contracting model last year was aimed at securing a wider, more youthful base to retain talent in South Africa instead of becoming laden with top-heavy contracts, which looks like is not going to be easy.

The Season with Hamilton Boys High School 1st XV – Episode 2:

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Flankly 28 minutes ago
Late Makazole Mapimpi try earns the Sharks win away to Edinburgh

Jake White described this as the strongest Sharks lineup ever. There is no doubt that it is at least an impressive roster. They did win, which is obviously an achievement against a good Edinburgh side. However …


For much of the first half Edinburgh seemed easily able to create 2 on 1 opportunities on both wings, with the defensive wingers biting in on the inside runner and cover defence being AWOL. Conversely the Sharks showed little ability to get behind the Edinburgh defensive line, with the sole exception of a nicely-exploited Am mismatch against a second row (which led to the Fassi try).


In general the Sharks, with their full complement of Bok firepower, do not look that dangerous in attack, and while tackling was good on the whole and goal line defence was impressive at times, they were exhibiting surprising breakdowns in open play defensive structures.


Also, the Sharks continue to be inaccurate, with material impact on the scoreboard. Missing two very kickable penalties is not the way to be the best. It looked to me like the Sharks contestable kicks were not well enough executed, and were too hard to recover.


Not sure what the running attack was trying to do, but my guess is that they were trying to pull off a Harlequins-style bash-and-offload game off of 12 (Esterhuizen). That’s not a terrible idea with the personnel available, but it would require creativity and a precision on second phase that was not in evidence.


Lastly, you have to have better discipline. It’s great that the team can cope with a 13 vs 14 period (of almost 10 minutes), but smart teams a avoid cards.


Having said that it was great to see the win. I thought that Edinburgh were cynical and niggly. Always hanging around on the wrong side of the breakdown, lots of intentional obstruction, illegal dummying at the base of the ruck, etc. They played a dirty game and the ref tolerated it. Always good to see that not succeed.


Overall the “best Sharks lineup ever” scraped the win, but under-performed their Bok-laden potential. Again.

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