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The Future of Rugby: South Africa U23

By Alex Shaw
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

We round up our Future of Rugby series with a look at South Africa, the reigning World Cup champions and No1 ranked side in the world, and the U23 options available to them. A lot was made of how young the England side that faced the Springboks in that recent November 2019 final was, although South Africa were far from a team at the end of their powers either with plenty of talented youngsters and players just beginning to enter their prime. There looks to be a lot more to come as well as the South African player pool earns envious glances from many rival nations (for the purposes of this XV, only players aged 23 or younger on May 1, 2020, were considered eligible for selection).

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15. Damian Willemse, Stormers

Previously heralded as South Africa’s next star fly-half, Willemse (pictured above right with Willie le Roux after the RWC final) has settled more easily into a role at full-back since transitioning from age-grade to senior rugby although there is still scope for him to play either position at the highest level. Lionel April, a standout for Tuks in the Varsity Cup, is another to watch having made the same move from fly-half to full-back that Willemse has.

14. Aphelele Fassi, Sharks

We have moved Fassi over from full-back to wing, something that not only allows for the strongest back three here, it is also something which could well happen if rugby adopts the 50:22 kicking law and full-back skill sets on both wings become more of a priority. He has excelled for the Sharks and looks like a Springbok in waiting at this point.

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13. Wandisile Simelane, Lions

An honourable mention here for Marnus Potgieter, although very few up and coming outside centres will get close to Simelane. The twinkle-toed Lions centre is as gifted an attacking prospect as you could hope to find. As he rounds out the other areas of his game in Johannesburg, he should begin to push his name into the mix for senior international involvement.

12. Rikus Pretorius, Stormers

The subject of plenty of interest from the Bulls and incoming head coach Jake White, Pretorius ticks all the physical boxes of a powerful inside centre. He became more comfortable as a distributor in his second season of U20s rugby and the Stormers will be doing everything they can to keep hold of the talented centre.

11. Tyrone Green, Lions

Green’s transition from age-grade to senior rugby has been one of the more seamless ones in South African rugby of late, and although the Lions have struggled since Johan Ackermann’s departure, Green has been a consistent option for them out wide. With Willie le Roux and Makazole Mapimpi at the other end of their careers, there are potential openings in the Springbok back three moving forward.

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10. Curwin Bosch, Sharks

Bosch flirted with the transition that Willemse has made to full-back, but the departure of Rob du Preez has given him control of the Sharks’ 10 jersey and he has thrived as a result of that. The ex-schoolboy and Craven Week star now looks to the manor born in Super Rugby, something which keeps him ahead here of the likes of Mannie Libbok, Gianni Lombard, James Mollentze and budding Ikeys fly-half James Tedder.

9. Embrose Papier, Bulls

There is a nice array of nine options here for South Africa, with the Lions’ Morne van den Berg in the mix, as well as the highly promising Sharks pair, Sanele Nohamba, Jaden Hendrikse. For now, Papier is the man leading the group having already got a taste of international rugby with the Springboks. His electric breaks around the fringes make him a threat from anywhere on the pitch.

1. Kwenzo Blose, Stormers

He is in competition with Maties loosehead Dian Bleuler, who is the next cab off the rank after Blose in the South Africa U20s side. The loosehead has cut his teeth with Western Province in the Currie Cup and will be hoping to make the leap to regular involvement with the Stormers as the understudy to Steven Kitshoff when Super Rugby eventually returns.

2. Johan Grobbelaar, Bulls

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The Sharks’ Dylan Richardson looks as if as he is forging his senior career at hooker, although there is still time for him to deployed as an openside flanker instead. Grobbelaar is an out and out hooker, though, and has begun backing up an excellent age-grade career with some strong showings for the Bulls at Super Rugby level.

3. Carlu Sadie, Lions

A word for the raw talent that is Asenathi Ntlabakanye, but we have gone for Sadie, his team-mate at the Lions, as the ex-Stormer is a couple of years ahead of him in his development. The two prop positions are areas where South Africa will need to find some new talent before the next World Cup, so Sadie could be in luck if he can continue to consistently perform for the Lions.

4. JJ van der Mescht, Sharks

There were few players more impressive in U20s rugby last season than van der Mescht, something which has caught the attention of clubs at home and abroad. The dynamic lock looks for all money like a future Springbok star and it’s a shame that the current Super Rugby season, which could well have been his breakout campaign at the senior level, has been so heavily impacted by the coronavirus outbreak.

5. Ruan Nortje, Bulls

Salmaan Moerat is a talent and was a captain of the South Africa U20s side, although it is his partner in that age-grade engine room that we have opted for here. Nortje was excellent in that U20s season and has since built on that with typically impressive performances for Tuks in the Varsity Cup and the Bulls in Super Rugby. South Africa’s lock stocks are in incredibly formidable shape.

6. Jaco Coetzee, Stormers

Nods here for the Lions flank pairing of Hacjivah Dayimani and Vincent Tshituka, both of whom have been developing well in Johannesburg, but Coetzee is a stellar talent whose reputation would already be much higher were it not for significant injuries earlier in his career. Versatile enough to pack down anywhere in the back row, Coetzee could be the next debutant in the Springbok back row.

7. Celimpilo Gumede, Sharks

Still somewhat raw as a technical rugby player, Gumede has all the tools to become a formidable and impactful loose forward. The Sharks desire to seemingly develop Richardson as a hooker helps clear space for Gumede in the franchise’s talented corps of back rowers and he is one of the spearheads of the youth movement currently going on in Durban.

8. Phepsi Buthelezi, Sharks

Thankfully for South Africa, Rassie Erasmus has no shortage of options to develop as Duane Vermeulen’s eventual successor. Juarno Augustus, Muller Uys and Junior Pokomela are all on the radar, but we have opted for Buthelezi primarily because of his skills as a leader on the pitch as well as his more successful transition to senior rugby than some of his rivals.

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Jon 1 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 4 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 5 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

15 Go to comments
T
Trevor 8 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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