SA Scools vs Wales Under 18

The following is the report on the match yesterday:-

"The SA Schools on Tuesday evening retained their four year undefeated status in the SARU Under-18 International Series by beating Wales Under-18 in convincing fashion, scoring a 40-15 win at Outeniqua Park in George.

In earlier results of the International Under-18 Series, England beat France 23-6 and Italy overcame SWD Schools XV 38-21 in a lively and high-scoring match.

The South African schoolboy side delivered a compelling performance in the first hour of the match, racing to a 40-3 lead, but to their credit Wales came back well in the last ten minutes of the match.

Earlier in the day, England scored a good win over France and retained their unbeaten status to set up a mouth-watering clash with South Africa when the series concludes in Stellenbosch on Saturday.

The South African Schools team made a number of changes after their opening win against France in Cape Town on Friday and that worked to their advantage and they came out firing from the opening play.

They raced into an early lead courtesy of a well-worked set piece play. Daniel Pienaar THS prop Lupumlo Mguca found himself in space from a line-out move near the Welsh line and his off-load found Southdowns College lock Aston Fortuin who dotted down under the posts in the second minute of play.

Fly half Thinus de Beer kicked the easy conversion and was involved again seven minutes later when the Waterkloof High School pivot slotted a good penalty kick.

De Beer converted his second of the afternoon when good follow-up play by Menlo Park winger Andell Loubser resulted in a try for Daniel Pienaar THS midfielder Heino Bezuidenhout.

The flyhalf also kicked penalties in the 19th, 22nd and 29th minute of the half as Wales found it difficult to halt the South African attacks legally.

The SA Schools side enjoyed territorial advantage and had most of the possession as well, with a fourth minute penalty by Davy Jones the only answer the Welsh had in the first half.

The second half started in spectacular fashion when local Outeniqua High School lock Eduard Zandberg raced 50 meters down the touchline with the run resulting in a try for Garsfontein High School scrumhalf Embrose Papier. De Beer converted and at 33-3, it was all over bar the shouting.

There was more for the locals to get excited about as SWD midfielder JT Jackson rounded off a fine counter-attack started way back in the SA Schools half. Jackson, who hails from nearby Oakdale Agric in Riversdale, ran a great support line and was rewarded for that. Again De Beer converted.

De Beer was then yellow carded for a late tackle and this gave Wales the breathing space they needed to regroup. They attacked well in this period, applying pressure and enjoyed much better field position.

Centre Owen Watkin scored under the sticks, dancing inside the South African defence and flanker Josh Middelton scored after the buzzer went to give Wales something to build on for the final series of matches in Stellenbosch on Saturday."

COMMENTS

The report mentioned specifically Eduard Zandberg - that is the guy who makes Matfield looks small and is a massive phhysical specimen.   He went straight through the Wales line out and ran 50 meters with the ball in hand leading to a try being scored  by Papier.

Papier is also an interesting case.  My brother mentioned that he is originally from a farming settlement of Coloured farmers outside of Heidelberg in the Cape.   He went to Heidelberg primary school and from there to Langenhoven High School in Riversdale.  What happened then was funny and is typical of what is going on in schools rugby.  The Garsfontein high school agents turbned up and within the first month he was suddenly moved to the Garsfontein school in Pretoria - where his school fees are paid - his transport and accommodation costs are paid by the school rugby sponsors and he gets a pocket money allowance from Bulls Rugby of R1 800 per month.

The same was the case of JT Jackson - really a top player.   He is from Oakdale Agric in Riversdale and his father is a local farmer.   In his case it was different.   Bulls Rugby paid all his school costs and he got the allowance of R1 800 as well from them. About two weeks ago he and his father was flown up to Pretoria to sign a contract with the Bulls for the enxt two years and the youngster would have a nice income of more than R250 000 to start life off after school.   Alsso gets a sponsiored car.   That will grow massively - depending on what he produces.

Ther professional game has entered schools rugby in SA with a vengaence and it shows with the quality of rugby now played at schools level.                  

 I hope that you can back your comments, about the Bulls contracting schools players, with solid proof. If this comes to their attention and you have nothing solid to back you up, you might find yourself in a spot of bother. Remember that you have posted your private land line number on the forum, ou beesblaas.

SARU has stopped the recruitment of schools players shortly after  the signing of Handre Pollard, IIRC.


Edit:

Correction. They are allowed to offer academic bursaries only. They are not allowed to approach them without approval of their home unions. If the two players have indeed been contracted/given academic bursaries, it would have been with the blessing of their home union, in which case the whole argument is useless.

http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/SARU-puts-foot-down-20120607

Johannesburg - SARU has promulgated a new regulation to ensure that the contracting of promising schoolboy rugby players is done above board, according to a report on the SuperSport website.

From now on, if a union wishes to contract a schoolboy rugby player, it will first have to inform the boy's home union, being the union in which the schoolboy plays his rugby, with the proviso that the schoolboy is willing to negotiate with his home union.

The object is to give the home union a chance to offer the boy a competitive contract.

Unions are allowed to contract players only when they are over the age of 18 but they are allowed to offer academic bursaries to boys between the ages of 16 and 18.

SARU has also decided that recruiting of players at national rugby weeks, including Craven Week, are forbidden. No person, union or agent is allowed to make any offer to schoolboy players during the week of the tournament.

This clearly does not apply to the many other tournaments before the national weeks which have been fruitful recruiting ground for gathering young players, even those still at school and who are then transported to northern climes.

The southern unions have been especially fruitful for northern unions in search of black and coloured players.

 Sorry Veramoron
They do not contract the players  on a rugby contract before a few months before the end of their school years - they provide them with "bursaries" - get the difference?  The "bursaries"  is afterwards converted to contracts.  I know for a fact that Jackson's father and son went to Pretoria to sign the actual contract on 8 August 2014,
Jackson's father is a farmer in the Riversdale area and a friend of my brother who resides in Riversdale - so I would know what is going on.   
The home union in this case is the SWD Eagles and they would not have the means to sign up Jackson in any event. 
Nothing illegal about the system - it happens all the time.  By the way Garsfontein did a sneaky one on another school boy rugby player and the story was all over the media.  
There is zero wrong in what I said - although you try to imply there is.  I gave practical examples - nothing else.   Being out of SA you do not know what actually happening on the ground.   The Under 18 Craven week is not really the riginal  provider of info on school ball players - by then all of them, are already "bursers".   Jackson's bursary commenced already in June 2012 when he was 16 years old.  
The major rugby playing schools have lists of sponsors a mile long.  I was at the outeniqua school and their sponsorship advetsiement cover at least 20 local firms.  Same with the others.   The Schoolboys at most of the top rugby schools are often enough recruited far and wide by the sachools themselves in any event.  
I do not know where Zandberg is off to - I heard a rumour he is going to WP - but is not sure about that one.  
By the way Pollard was not really pursued by WP - who at the time was interested in their great find - Earl Silky Hands Jantjies.  They were the ones who made the balls-up and that is why his father got the he ll in with them and co-signed the contract with the Bulls.  It was the fault of WP themselves - nobody else - although they screamed blue murder afterwards.         

 You are beating about the bush again. You made the impression that he was signed prematurely by the Bulls and in your typical devious way you have dragged the Bulls into the story because it is the Bulls. You have, after all, confirmed that it is in all schools.

If it was indeed a educational bursary, then it was all above board. I cannot believe that the would also give a school kid almost R22K pa in "pocket money". How on earth is a company going to explain that to SARS? TBH, the entire story about the R1,800 pm and the R250K car sounds a bot far-fetched.

As far as WP not pursuing Polard is concerned, you are busy shooting yourself in the foot................ again. No, you are not actually shooting yourself in the foot about Pollard, you are just busy with your normal bullshitting.

WP CEO Wagner hits back

Cape Town – WP Rugby chief executive Rob Wagner has spiritedly defended the franchise against allegations that it struggles to retain its best talent in the face of interest from upcountry or abroad.

The long-serving CEO tends to stay mostly out of the public and media spotlight, but on Wednesday made a rare appearance, immediately following the regular Stormers team announcement briefing at Bellville, and then again on Cape Talk 567 radio station to fight the union’s corner.

There has been fresh criticism of the Stormers/Western Province over a perception that they “leak” young talent, just the latest being the case of Baby Bok schoolboy flyhalf phenomenon Handre Pollard, who has agreed terms with the Bulls.

In response to criticism that the province too readily develop young players and then let them slip through the net, Wagner said: “That is a perception, first of all. People rightfully do get upset when a talented player leaves.

“But in answer to that (charge) ... let’s just take a group of young players in our (Stormers) pack who have been identified by us and have come from school to our Institute, them graduating to the Super Rugby scene.

“I’m talking the likes of Kitshoff, Malherbe, Elstadt, Etzebeth, Kolisi, Carr, Roux ... if you take a group like that, I would hazard a guess that they are the youngest group of players at Super Rugby level who have come up through the Institute system.

“We have retained six of those on long-term contracts and only lost one (lock Quinn Roux, to Irish club Leinster). Operating in a professional rugby era, out-of-contract players have freedom of movement; there’s global competition for the scarce resource of pro players.

“Financial reward, opportunity to play at first-team level after it has perhaps not always been immediately possible where they’ve just (come from) ... of those players mentioned and certain others, it is a remarkable strike rate to keep such players who have already shown their worth in probably the toughest competition in rugby union.”

Wagner conceded that Pollard was “an outstanding rugby player who will go on to play at a very high level” and was a “big loss” to the province.

“It’s not through lack of trying: this goes right back to August 2010 when we dealt with the particular player (to discuss a contract).

“Many people are unaware that in 2011 we’d already invited him to Stormers practices to bring him into the structures, etcetera ... a lot of work went on behind the scenes to keep Handre in this province. We did everything in our power ... I can’t answer at this point in time precisely what influenced his decision to move north.”

At the media briefing, Wagner had displayed a pile of paperwork saying it was the sum of correspondence on the Pollard matter, much of it involving his father and WP officials like former Springbok lock Hennie Bekker.

“Western Province prides itself in its structures. I think our Institute is highly successful, and not as many players as perceived have actually moved on.

“People are probably thinking about people like Johann Sadie, who is currently in the wilderness and not in the Bulls side, another like (Conrad) Hoffman who is not in the Sharks squad environment.

“And consider also that we take players away from other provinces -- they try damned hard to keep them too!

“I’m talking fine players like Peter Grant, who the Sharks tried to keep, Joe Pietersen, who the Free State wanted to keep ... it goes both ways.”

 Wagner said it should not be forgotten that in 2011 the Stormers were tested like never before at flyhalf, where seven players were struck down by injury, yet they had managed to win the inaugural SA conference and reach a semi-final.

“This season, if you consider the quality loose forwards we have lost to injury – Burger, Vermeulen, Koster, Carr – we are still heading the conference and still on track for the playoffs.

“So you’ve got to think there’s a good case for saying we’ve identified our resources and depth correctly, isn’t there?”

I would not be at all surprised if this thread goes into your "file 13".

 SWD/Outeniqua are going to have a big presence in the Baby Boks next year. Warrick Gelant, Duhan Van Der Merwe, JT Jackson, Eduard Zandberg and maybe even Dewald Human if he plays well for the Bulls U/19's (He also fits into the quota for selections).

Ceramoron
 I gave no impression - I merely stated facts.  It was you who tried to be clever by raking u the Pollard issue and the regulations - where you were dead wrong again - but are you ever right?   Never that I can remember.
Because you do not understand what is going on - you are dumb.   The bursdary entails covering school fees. accommodation and a cash amount of R1 800 per month.  The contract signed when the player is to join the academy is circa R250  000 per year.  In the case of Jackson he is going to the Bulls full time as from January next year - that is when the actual contract takes over.  
The report you quoted was after the horse (in this case Pollard) has bolted.  WP tried to cover their poor contracting approach and made all kinds of statements about the issue.   Fact is that Pollard left them - because of what they offered and that was crap.  They contracted youngsters like Howard - but he never gets a chance to play - and that is why they are always wrong in talent identification.   What happenmed to Pieter-Steph du Toit, Paul Willenmse, Thomas  du Toit, and a host of other players that left the WP?  They left because of crap offers.   End of story.     

 

Ou Maaikie, are you saying that WP has been lying about Pollard? If so, why don't you provide the facts then..... and I mean facts. Not the bullshit that you suck out of your thumb. I have given you the response by WP about Pollard. That was, IIRC, confirmed by Pollard's father at the time. In addition, the Bulls are not known to get into "price-wars" over players. There are enough examples of that.

When Habana's dad tried to play WP and the Bulls off against each other, the Bulls put their offer on the table and when Bernie Habana told them what WP were offering him, the Bulls just said "Good luck. Cheers". They did not try and beat the offer. Good old Bernie was bullshitting them in any case. He told them, and the media, that he and Brian only approached WP to try and determine Bryan's "market value", since his contract with the Bulls was running out and they need platform "to work" from.

At the same time that teh Habana thing was ongoing, the WP also tried to lure Wynand Olivier away. Again the WP offered him much more than what the Bulls did. The Bulls were not prepared to get into a price war. In teh end Wynand stayed behind for less than what WP offered him.

Unlike WP the Bulls do not get involved in court cases and other bullshit over player contracts.

They have only once been involved in a court case over a player contract and that was when Bakkies wanted to get out of his contract to play for Toulon. Coincidently, Bernie Habana was involved in that one as well and, IIRC, it was then established that he was not a registered agent.

Paul Willemse was never involved with the WP. He was born in Pretoria, went to school at Monument and then played for the Lions.

If PSDT and other did not sign for the WP because of crap offers then how come the WP manage to attract players from all over the country. Yes, even though Beeno likes to believe that everbody "poaches" the WP players an whole host of the current WP lot came from elsewhere.

Pat Cilliers - Natal
Brok Harris - NW
Alistair Vermaak - PE
Deon Fourie - Pietersburg
Tiaan Liebenberg - Griquas/Cheetahs
Scarra Ntubei - Border
Ruan Botha - Falcons
Carizza - Argentina
Michael Rhodes - Natal
Siya Kolisi - PE
Duane Veremeulen - Cheetahs
Catrakilis - Lions
Kurt Coleman - SWD
Ryno Eksteen - Affies
Gary van Aswegen - Pumas
Jaco Taute - Lions
Michael vd Spuy - Grey Bloem

Have you ever checked up on the origins of your beloved Sharks players? Now that could make for some interesting reading.

You see, ou Maaikie, the WP are doing exactly the same as all the other unions/franchises. They compete in the open market and some you win, some you lose. Sometimes the one union is just that little bit more awake than the next one, and that is what it is all about.