‘IT is not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.’
This well-known maxim holds true for schoolboy rugby, despite the perception and ongoing complaints of parents about size in rugby.
Parents quickly go up in arms when an excessively large frame takes to the field and their ‘little Johnny’, they believe, is put at risk.
The latest example which raised many an eyebrow was at the 2014 U13 Coca-Cola Craven Week which is currently on in Durban.
SWD prop Stephan Posthumus of Hartenbos Primary School took to the field, tipping the scales at a hefty 116kg and stands at 1.79m tall.
This makes him the biggest player at this year’s competition, which raised the question of whether smaller players risked serious injury going onto the field against such giants.
In childhood development, you get early developers and late developers, which makes situations like these very frequent among the younger age groups.
It is not fair on the early developer to be criticised or be referred to in derogatory terms.
One can for argument’s sake even use international rugby as a comparison.
Australian lock forward Will Skelton is 2.03m tall and tips the scales at 140kg, whilst Irish scrumhalf Peter Stringer weighs in at only 72kg and stands 1.70m tall.
Height and weight advantage or disadvantage is in all sporting codes at all levels, so I do not really see an issue.
SA Rugby’s medical manager, Clint Redhead, who attends all youth rugby tournaments says that the issue is one that SARU certainly keeps an eye on.
The question is whether we should be playing weight-grade rather than age-grade rugby at this level, like they do in some parts of New Zealand.
Redhead says there is no medical evidence to support the notion that bigger players necessarily pose a threat to others.
He also believes there are social and maturity issues to consider before simply thrusting larger boys into an environment where they play against others who are older than them.
SARU keeps detailed injury statistics at all the Youth Weeks and according to Redhead the most common injuries at the U13 Craven Week have nothing to do with size and weight.
‘We find that because the players are at an undeveloped growth stage, the majority of the injuries are caused by kids falling awkwardly,’ says Redhead.
So bring on the big boys, as the bigger they are, the harder they fall.
