Both the DHL Western Province Under-19 and Under-21 teams are well-placed at the halfway mark of their respective provincial competitions. However, there is even more to this achievement than initially meets the eye.
With six matches gone in both the U19 and U21 provincial tournaments thus far in 2012, the Under-19s are in second position on the log (with just one defeat) and the Under-21s are in third place (having lost twice).
The full story, however, goes a lot deeper than the cold, hard starts of wins and losses thus far in 2012.
The DHL WP Under-21s have not been at full strength over the past few weeks. Yes, injuries are always a threat and can happen daily, but of those players still eligible for John Dobson’s U21 side, one is currently a member of the Springboks’ Castle Rugby Championship squad (and another would have been), one is injured and six are in the DHL WP senior team.
Lock Eben Etzebeth – who played for the Under-21 team last year – has not even played an Absa Currie Cup match, yet he already boasts five Springbok caps at the age of 20, whilst had it not been for his broken thumb (picked up on Currie Cup duty last weekend), Siya Kolisi (21) would have joined his provincial colleague in Green & Gold during the Boks’ Rugby Championship tour of Australasia.
The other injured player is Kolisi’s back row mate Nizaam Carr (21), who made such a stunning entry in Vodacom Super Rugby earlier this year before suffering a serious knee injury, whilst Steven Kitshoff (20) and Frans Malherbe (21) were Super Rugby regulars for the DHL Stormers in 2012.
The average age of the DHL Stormers pack that played in the semifinal against the Sharks last month was just 24. Kitshoff and Malherbe, for instance, played against some of the southern hemisphere’s best front rows on a weekly basis between February and July – a scary prospect when one remembers that props mature in their late 20s only.
Throw in the likes of Scarra Ntubeni, Wilhelm van der Sluys, JP du Plessis and Damian de Allende – all of whom have played Under-21 rugby this year and are in the senior side’s matchday 22 to face the Blue Bulls this weekend – and suddenly this ‘full story’ jumps out straight at you.
But those above-mentioned players aside, flyhalves Tim Swiel and Dillyn Leyds (with the latter lining up more at fullback these days) will be eyeing a breakthrough into the senior ranks in the not too distant future – despite both still being Under-21 next year and with quality schoolboys, Pieter Jordaan (Free State) and Ryno Eksteen (Blue Bulls), heading to Cape Town next year too. Don’t forget the name Ryan Smid either. He, too, is still eligible for the U21 side in 2013, but the No.8 is already knocking hard on the door of the senior side.
Jordaan and Eksteen will join the Western Province Rugby Institute in Stellenbosch next season and will initially turn out for the Under-19 side, a team that has set tongues wagging this year with its exciting style of play. With attack-minded centres Janco Gunther and Justin Geduld leading the way they average nearly four tries per game, and coach Nazeem Adams has made a real point of creating a pool of depth in the first half of the season in case injuries and call-ups start taking their toll in the second half of the season.
Here, of course, the importance of the WP Rugby Institute cannot be under-estimated and Jacques Hanekom and his team take great pride in the development of Etzebeth, Kolisi and co. – the next generation of Western Province, and South African, Rugby.
* If you want to catch a glimpse of the next Etzebeth, Kolisi or Du Plessis, both WP junior sides will take on the Golden Lions at DHL Newlands tomorrow (the Under-19s at 14h45 and the Under-21s at 16h45) as curtain-raisers to the main match at 19h10 (against the Blue Bulls).
