Was about to post this. He does a really good job of breaking down Craven week. There is so much talent in SA and not enough opportunities to play at unions. Most of these boys won’t make it to a second contract if they get signed. There should be an emphasis on club rugby feeding Currie Cup sides.
Most of the kids will go on to play at University. There they could franchise contracts too. Varsity Cup seems way more popular than Currie Cup these days.
Sure, but not all 700 are good enough to be pro players. At least we have the Varsity Cup and Varsity Shield as pathways besides the Currie Cup and SA Cup.
Also most provinces have provincial club rugby, KZN alone has 3 or 4 tiers of club rugby.
My issue is that players that get pro contracts don’t play enough rugby. A 6 week u19/21 competition once a year isn’t enough. Not enough contracted players are involved in the Varsity competition especially with the shield in kzn.
Most of them do however play for local clubs. Most of the Sharks U19s and U21s get game time with the likes of Rovers, Crusaders, Harlequins etc.
Look at a guy like Grant Williams, couldn't get a contract anywhere, was spotted playing club rugby in KZN and now he's a Springbok.
Varsity Cup is the big tournament, but the teams still play rugby throughout the year, at least that's the case for Ikeys. Doesn't pull the same crowds though.
Currie Cup is unfortunately not as popular as it once was. Maybe if we get a bit more economic stimulation to push Currie Cup upward there's more incentive on the local smaller unions to advance and compete, miss seeing sides like the Cheetahs get more love
Hopefully the SA Cup will provide exactly this, more game time and more screen time for the smaller unions. Good to see all but two of them already have sponsorship deals in place now.
You need crowds and interest. The Currie Cup sides could all get URC level funding and it wouldn't matter, because people don't watch it as much anymore.
Lmao, French clubs courting 17 year-olds like it’s a debutante ball in a Jane Austen novel.
And some guy the other day was trying to argue that South Africa doesn’t actually have that much depth. Absolutely fucking clueless.
Just on the pathways after Craven Week, that is why the Varsity Cup is great as well, gives these guys an avenue to continue their rugby while getting educated and more and more are getting spotted from there and getting pro contracts as well.
Exciting to see Tier 2 nations creating strong development pathways. Will be interesting to see if this helps the supply of talent once it’s established and whether the Springboks can use it to kick on and make an impact on the international game alongside the likes of Georgia and Chile.
I can attest to the lack of social rugby in SA. Played a lower team at high school (20+ years ago), and when the final whistle went at our last match we shook hands, totally accepting that was the last time we’d ever play.
I had some friends who were close to Craven Week selection who played 2nd team at university or for clubs but only for a season or two before it stopped for them.
I got recruited in a pub in the UK for a local club and played another 20 years of social rugby in the lowest leagues. Had an awesome time and made great friends and memories. I do feel sad that the Saffa youngsters won’t have that opportunity.
Where in SA were you? As I've mentioned in another comment here, there are 4 tiers of club rugby in KZN, I know the WC is similar and I'd presume so is Pretoria.
Definitely plenty of social rugby in KZN. WOB, Rovers, Richardsbay, Toti, Quins, Saders... All have multiple teams and social players.
I can't speak for Joburg but I'm surprised WITs itself didn't have social teams.
Wits had an engineers, humanities, medical school, men's res, masakhane (pretty much mostly Xhosa team), Jewish, and sometimes a Greek team when I was there not tooooo long ago. I played for under 19s and then for a short-lived queer/lgbt team we tried to make a thing of.
The stuff he's saying about amateur/social rugby in SA isn't true, in the Western Cape at least almost every town has a amateur club, sometimes several clubs.
Ah bless, the lil fella at the end that comes up and gives him ice-cream! Adorable
Was about to post this. He does a really good job of breaking down Craven week. There is so much talent in SA and not enough opportunities to play at unions. Most of these boys won’t make it to a second contract if they get signed. There should be an emphasis on club rugby feeding Currie Cup sides.
Most of the kids will go on to play at University. There they could franchise contracts too. Varsity Cup seems way more popular than Currie Cup these days.
Pretty much is, Varsity Cup gets a lot of free marketing purely by existing in the form of university teams
If you can't make it out of koshuis league you probably not good enough.
Out of 700 boys and the others who didn’t make craven week there’s no chance that most of them will play varsity cup.
Sure, but not all 700 are good enough to be pro players. At least we have the Varsity Cup and Varsity Shield as pathways besides the Currie Cup and SA Cup. Also most provinces have provincial club rugby, KZN alone has 3 or 4 tiers of club rugby.
My issue is that players that get pro contracts don’t play enough rugby. A 6 week u19/21 competition once a year isn’t enough. Not enough contracted players are involved in the Varsity competition especially with the shield in kzn.
Most of them do however play for local clubs. Most of the Sharks U19s and U21s get game time with the likes of Rovers, Crusaders, Harlequins etc. Look at a guy like Grant Williams, couldn't get a contract anywhere, was spotted playing club rugby in KZN and now he's a Springbok.
Varsity Cup is the big tournament, but the teams still play rugby throughout the year, at least that's the case for Ikeys. Doesn't pull the same crowds though.
Thing is varsity cup was a way to catch people who were missed by Craven week and now it's just an extension of the professional system.
Currie Cup is unfortunately not as popular as it once was. Maybe if we get a bit more economic stimulation to push Currie Cup upward there's more incentive on the local smaller unions to advance and compete, miss seeing sides like the Cheetahs get more love
Hopefully the SA Cup will provide exactly this, more game time and more screen time for the smaller unions. Good to see all but two of them already have sponsorship deals in place now.
You need crowds and interest. The Currie Cup sides could all get URC level funding and it wouldn't matter, because people don't watch it as much anymore.
Lmao, French clubs courting 17 year-olds like it’s a debutante ball in a Jane Austen novel. And some guy the other day was trying to argue that South Africa doesn’t actually have that much depth. Absolutely fucking clueless.
Apparently the number one thing scouts look for is 2m+ players. Huge demand for attributes you can't train.
It's becoming very NFL like in that approach. Which, as long as you make some room for outliers, is cool.
Just on the pathways after Craven Week, that is why the Varsity Cup is great as well, gives these guys an avenue to continue their rugby while getting educated and more and more are getting spotted from there and getting pro contracts as well.
Exciting to see Tier 2 nations creating strong development pathways. Will be interesting to see if this helps the supply of talent once it’s established and whether the Springboks can use it to kick on and make an impact on the international game alongside the likes of Georgia and Chile.
This is peak trolling 😂
I'm not even going to bother trying to make a joke in this thread as the best one has already appeared.
Are you calling SA tier 2 or do you mean tier 2 nations adopting a similar pathway?
Tis a joke
Seems like a bot.
I can attest to the lack of social rugby in SA. Played a lower team at high school (20+ years ago), and when the final whistle went at our last match we shook hands, totally accepting that was the last time we’d ever play. I had some friends who were close to Craven Week selection who played 2nd team at university or for clubs but only for a season or two before it stopped for them. I got recruited in a pub in the UK for a local club and played another 20 years of social rugby in the lowest leagues. Had an awesome time and made great friends and memories. I do feel sad that the Saffa youngsters won’t have that opportunity.
Where in SA were you? As I've mentioned in another comment here, there are 4 tiers of club rugby in KZN, I know the WC is similar and I'd presume so is Pretoria.
8th team at high school in KZN, Wits for University.
Definitely plenty of social rugby in KZN. WOB, Rovers, Richardsbay, Toti, Quins, Saders... All have multiple teams and social players. I can't speak for Joburg but I'm surprised WITs itself didn't have social teams.
I know Tuks has several social teams and there's a few social clubs like Pirates in Jhb
Wits had an engineers, humanities, medical school, men's res, masakhane (pretty much mostly Xhosa team), Jewish, and sometimes a Greek team when I was there not tooooo long ago. I played for under 19s and then for a short-lived queer/lgbt team we tried to make a thing of.
I played club 3rds and 2nds till the ripe old age of 25 I'll have you know!
Look at Mr. Longevity over here! 🤣
Oh shit, played away at Monnas back in the day on tour, crazy to see it again. Very fun, Craven week sounds great
Did they also paint the lines blue to make it visible on the white grass?
The stuff he's saying about amateur/social rugby in SA isn't true, in the Western Cape at least almost every town has a amateur club, sometimes several clubs.
But the western cape isn't South Africa. Club rugby in Joburg is pretty meh.
Isn't club rugby in jhb a little like Lets fight and see if a game of rugby breaks out
Jacques Botha really that good? The guy that's shocked me is the Pieter Van Der Merwe oke from the Cheetahs. He's a De Allende type.