Pirates Rugby Club’s touch rugby star, Olerato Moepi (19) is still on cloud nine after representing South Africa at the Youth Touch World Cup.
The Roosevelt Park resident played in his first world cup in Malaysia in August and hopes it will be a stepping stone to greater things in the coming years.
“I had a very special experience at the world cup. It was my first ever touch rugby world cup and the biggest touch tournament I’ve ever played [in],” he said.
“It was really amazing to play against the best teams in the world in the youth division.”
The South Africans, unfortunately, lost to New Zealand in the semi-final but pipped Hong Kong 9–7 in the play-off for third place.
This, along with shopping and eating the delicacies of the local cuisine, will be remembered by Moepi for a long time to come.
“Although we played very well, we are not on the same level as the other countries, to be specific, Australia and New Zealand. They were in the final because they are by far the best teams in the world when it comes to touch rugby.”
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Moepi still believes SA did well to finish third.
He admitted that he preferred contact rugby over touch rugby because it was a more popular sport in SA and may afford him the chance to play professionally one day.
However, playing touch rugby at Pirates and for the Gauteng team has helped him improve his basic skills used in contact rugby, including running, passing and creating smart plays.
Moepi helped the Pirates U19 touch rugby team reach the final of the Pirates Grand Challenge Cup for the first time in 40 years.
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