SA Schools vs England Schools

The lousy buggers did not televised the game - but SA Schools beat England Schools by 19 - 14. Noo report on the game as yet.

 Bullshit, they might train together but they dont play matches as a side and thats no excuse at all. The gulf between SA schools and England schools is huge, I know I live in England and my kid is in the system.

 

You play the top 10 SA schools against the top 10 English schools and the SA schools sides would win by 30 points. The SA schools side should reflect this gulf

Saffex Here is the report on the match:- "SA Schools team defeat England in Under-18 International Series The SA Schools team on Friday overcame a determined England outfit in their opening match of the Under-18 International Series at City Park stadium in Cape Town for a 19-14 victory and a strong start to the series. The clash proved to be thrilling, as both sides showed fantastic skills, brute physicality and put in a series of big hits. England stamped their authority early on with No8 James Chisholm scoring their first try in the fourth minute following a powerful scrum for a 7-0 lead. SA, however, hit back with the team retaining possession and showing good skills by off-loading in the tackle, which earned them a penalty. Grant Hermanus, who was in fine form for Western Province at the Coca-Cola Craven Week, made the most of the opportunity and reduced the score to 7-3. This bolstered SA’s confidence and prompted them to retain possession and apply pressure on England, but unfortunately penalties and turnovers at crucial times denied them a few try-scoring opportunities. The team, however, showed patience on attack and continued to string together phases, and they earned the rewards with inspirational captain and No8 Rikus Bothma scoring their first try of the match in the 19th minute from solid forward play. This handed the hosts a narrow 8-7 lead. The second quarter, however, proved to be a hard grind as the forwards battled it and out and both teams tightened up their defence. England, however, got a sniff of the tryline in the dying seconds of the first half, but the tenacious SA defence shut them out to maintain their one-point lead at the break. The home team continued to assert their authority in the second half and made their way to England’s half where they camped for a few minutes. A fantastic inside pass to wing Duhan van der Merwe after stringing together a few phases on attack, saw the player dance his way through the defence for their second try. Unfortunately, however, the conversion proved unsuccessful. But England hit back instantaneously with Chisholm scoring his second try after picking up the ball from the base of the scrum and breaking through to cross the tryline. Olver converted to hand the team a 14-13 lead. This lead, however, was short-lived as Brandon Thomson slotted over the team’s second penalty to sneak back into a two-point lead, and fortunately for SA, they managed to maintain this until the end. With the scores close both teams refused to give an inch which resulted in hard-fought third quarter. England, however, used their effective rolling maul well to get onto the front-foot and work their way into SA’s half. But an intercept by Thomson and quick numbers at the breakdowns earned the home side another penalty, which Thomson converted for a 19-14 lead. England fought back with intent until the dying seconds, but their efforts were countered by the determined SA defence, which sealed the victory. In the other matches, the Wales Under-18’s beat France 29-17, while the Western Province Invitational XV defeated Montpellier 36-31 and the Western Province Under-18’s thumped Italy 39-17. Scorers: SA Schools 19 (8). Tries: Rikus Bothma, Duhan van der Merwe. Penalties: Grant Hermanus, Brandon Thomson (2). England 14 (7). Tries: James Chisholm (2). Conversions: Sam Olver (2)" From the above - the youngsters made a number of mistakes while attacking and were giving away penalties in the process. Am not surprised that Duhan van der Merwe scored a try - we are going to hear a lot about this one over the next two years. Bet he will be a Springbok before he is 21 years of age.

Yeah saw that on the SA rugby site

Shezza Where did you find the highlights - I looked everywhere and only got the article as quoted. Please help

 http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xYymvvcqmb4

 

 Saffex if I was in your situation I would do the same.

 

The video looks pretty basic, although the kids look pretty big for school kids. Not sure if the camera man is too great or what

 

The scrumhalf from South Africa looks good- that one movement down the backline for I think the winger to finish of looked slick.

 

Some of Englands tries look a bit soft.

This was the England U18 Squad not the England Schoolboys, they are different teams entirely and this team has not been together for 3 years. Most of the players have been involved in this set up for barely a year.

 

They are, however, all contracted to Premiership Academies or First Teams, as well as their Schools and Colleges, if I am not mistaken.

http://www.hssm.co.za/news/rugby/national/2013/

sa-schools-squad-face-england-announced

Becs, a specific quote from Chris October (SA schools coach) begs to differ.

"With regards to England specifically I chatted to their coach after last year’s tournament and he mentioned that this year’s team would have been together for three years, so they should be a cohesive unit."