Best of the best to assemble for youth weeks
South Africa Rugby’s annual Youth Weeks tournaments will conclude in Cape Town this week with the U18 Craven Week bringing together the best of South African school rugby talent.
Sixteen teams registered at Rondebosch Boys’ High School on July 3. The hosts, DHL Western Province was allowed to field a second team and Limpopo Blue Bulls added the extra numbers to the 14 existing provincial unions that have graced the tournament for decades.
Despite the landmark this week has become on the South African rugby landscape, the Covid-19 pandemic prevented the hosting in 2020 and 2021. It will be great relief at the first kick-off when Eastern Province and Griquas open the tournament on July 4 at this school in Cape Town’s southern suburbs, celebrating their 125th anniversary this year.
The cancellation of the tournament in the last two years meant missing out on the opportunity for some of the country’s best age-group players, with a number of them currently in
SA Rugby’s annual Youth Weeks tournaments will will come to conclusion in Cape Town this week with the U18 Craven Week bringing together the best of South African schools’ rugby talent.
An example is Junior Bok scrumhalf Niel le Roux, who played for SWD at the U16 level in 2019, only for the former Oakdale Agricultural School star to be deprived of the honour to play at the U18 Craven Week level in 2020 and 2021.
“My message to the guys will be to appreciate the opportunity and enjoy every second of it,” said Le Roux.
“For me, missing out on Craven Week was a huge disappointment as it was something I worked hard for. Being selected for the Junior Boks made up for that, but it is still something I could never have. So, the guys must appreciate the occasion and make sure they make memories. Good luck to all the teams out there.”
Another highlight of the tournament is the selection of the SA Schools and SA Schools A sides. Many professional rugby careers were kick-started this way and this will again provide a pathway to that. The selectors will be keeping a close eye on all matches.
Speaking about pathways, all eight match officials involved will be on debut at the tournament, with one of them Hanru van Rooyen, a former Craven Week player, having donned the No 10 jersey for the Leopards at the 2017 tournament.
The talent on show will be scrutinised and nurtured by four SA Rugby Referee department coaches, while Archie Sehlako and Egon Seconds will also double up as TMOs for the matches.
Incidentally, the main field at Rondebosch is named after Tinkie Heyns, a legendary referee for the host province for many years.
Four matches will be played on the Tinkie Heyns Field on Monday, which will include the opening ceremony of the tournament, with the remaining eight teams playing on July 5.
