The Sharks have contracted 14 new under 19 players for the 2014 season and while this is a far cry from the group of nearly 50 young men who’ll be starting their careers at the Bulls this year, the Sharks have always favoured quality over quantity.
This year’s group is unique in two ways; firstly in that it comprises far more forwards (in particular, locks) than it does backs and secondly in that no fewer than four of the 14 have older brothers already in the Sharks system.
The Sharks don’t contract an entire team’s worth of players at under 19 level – that simply isn’t their model. Rather, they offer junior spots to players based on the perceived needs of the senior team in years to come. The talent base offered by the wider (non-contracted) Sharks Academy group allows for a competitive under 19 side to be selected (although obviously not as strong as the Bulls’, who contract three players in each position every year) while ensuring a higher pull-through rate into the senior ranks. The Sharks, in other words, do a lot more to select the “right players” at under 19 level, rather than casting the net widely and allowing natural attrition to whittle out players along the way.
2014 sees the arrival of a pair of highly-anticipated young brothers, the phenomenal Daniel and Jean-Luc du Preez. The blonde Kearnsey boys have been setting the schools rugby scene alight for years now and it will be interesting to see them transition to age-group rugby. Their older brother, Robert, plays flyhalf for the Sharks under 21 side. Also joining the fray is Johan du Toit, the younger brother of Bok Pieter-Steph and Retief Marais, the third brother in that famous Welkom clan that has already delivered Jandre and Peet to the Sharks family.
Three of these four played their schoolboy rugby at lock (Jean-Luc du Preez being the exception, as a blindside flanker). Also coming into the system as second-rowers are Garsfontein’s 2.03m Hyron Andrews and HTS Middelburg’s 2m Petrus du Busson. There’s obviously no way that five second-rowers can all squeeze into just one under 19 team, meaning that one or more of these boys may well find their futures in other positions; Beet from SchoolBoyRugby blog even reckons that the third Marais, as a 110m hurdles national champion, could be used as a wing.
The front row has not been neglected either; Paarl Gim’s massive Thomas du Toit (loosehead, somewhere north of 130kgs) is no slouch for his size, while Grey tighthead Ruan Kramer also played SA Schools and is renowned as a ball-carrier. Another old Grey is Andrew du Plessis, a smaller prop whose future may well lie in the middle of the scrum. Kearnsey’s Ayrom Schramm, who was simply phenomenal as a schoolboy number 8 last season, is also in the mix, as are Grey captain and fetcher Marius Louw and Glenwood captain Wandi Mazibuko. The latter may also need to switch positions as he’s unlikely to be big enough to continue as a blindside flank after school.
The only backs to make the grade this year are Hilton’s Cameron Wright, who already has two years’ Sharks under 19 experience under his belt and St Stithians flyhalf Innocent Radebe, who had a great Craven week and was a controversial omission from the SA Schools side.
The below picture of the new recruits is courtesy of SchoolBoyRugby blog and we encourage you to click the link to read more about these players. We wish them all the best for their future endeavours in Durban and hope to see some or all of them in the senior black and white strip in the future.
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You can spot Johan du Toit a mile off
@Butchie34 (Comment 1) : funny…. when I first saw this pic, I only had the names, but no context as to who they were. It bugged the crap out of me that I couldn’t figure out why the kid looked so familiar.
I felt like a real idiot when the penny finally dropped!
So Johan du Toit is (obviously) back row, second from left.
how many others can you guys match to the picture?
They should have dropped a matchbox or poodle in that photo to at least provide us with some context on how big these boys are.
@vanmartin (Comment 4) : Hyron Andrews is the tallest at 2.03m.
Back row, third from left.
That should give you an indication of height
How Innocent Radebe never made the SA schools side is beyond me.
@John Galt (Comment 6) : you’re in good company
Reading though the ‘Details’ column in Beet’s article has been fascinating. Really excited about what Cameron Wright could offer us at scrumhalf one day. Thomas du Toit may also prove to be a good successor to the Beast.
Can we just please please PLEASE launch some sort of petition that the oke on the far right doesn’t come within a million miles of a position where he will have any say over Sharks dress code and/or jersey design!?
@Culling Song (Comment 9) : Jean-Luc du Preez? I’ve seen him look better
@robdylan (Comment 5) : happy happy all the best to everybody for the new year. That andrews kid is briliant seen him play a few times and garsfontein (i stay right behind the school so its nice to go watch a few school boy games) few good 7 players in that school and if i’m not masteken he is from Port elezebeth
@robdylan (Comment 10) : Also, please please PLEASE let him not see my comment; his one tricep looks like it might outweigh me…
@Culling Song (Comment 12) : he’s a beast, that boy.
Those Kearsney boys are large! Schram looks twice the size he did a few months ago!
@Butchie34 (Comment 1) : Thought I saw a family member of Lyle Lovett there.
Philip Marais looks as if he could be a head taller than all of them if he unwrapped his legs.
Can hardly believe that he could be national champ at 110m hurdles.
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 16) : now that’s funny, because he’s actually not. 1.96m
The fact that he’s next to a scrumhalf might have something to do with it.
http://www.sarugbymag.co.za/blog/details/whites-yellow-for-stamping-on-barritt
Disgusting thug…… 👿
should be a facebook type part to it where you can hover over the pic and the names appear
BTW, Beet has the du Plessis brothers the wrong way round on his site.
Daniel’s hair goes left-to-right, Jean-Luc’s goes right-to-left
@sharks4eve2013 (Comment 11) : happy new year to you too, bro!
Must hand if to Beet; great info on all the new boys.
Some real beasts here.
now if we could win the under 19,21 and senior currie cup along with super rugby thn mission accomplished 😎
@Poisy (Comment 23) : oh and also vodacom cup and for the impi to win promotion to varsity cup
@Poisy (Comment 24) : if that happens, I swear I will shut down this site and never watch rugby again.
Any other season could not be anything but a crushing disappointment by comparison.
@robdylan (Comment 25) : i will pretend i didn’t see that 😐
@Culling Song (Comment 9) : You mean to tell me, that you first noticed his dress code before happening upon that upper leg growing out of his shoulder 😯 😆
@Poisy (Comment 24) : @robdylan (Comment 25) : Ja, their really wouldn’t be anything left to look forward to after a season like that.
That would fall into the category of the ’95 wc vs. the ’07 wc. ’07 was nice to win, but ’95 was breathtaking! Never has
rugby, no sport, been able to recreate that day.@FireTheLooser (Comment 28) : you attending how many games this year?
Did I miss something but I’m sure I heard that Johan du Toit signed for Bulls?!?! I think Retief might do a good job at 7 almost like Juan Smith?!?!
@JD (Comment 30) : I also heard that, but I guess he changed his mind
let the debate begin ……. Jake white and the BLK sharks vs Brendon Ventor and Saracens ? With our boy John the ref ? LOL 😀 I wonder what and how Brendon is advising Saracens to play the sharks ?
@Poisy (Comment 29) : Well, a drug addict is always chasing that first high (for me, that would probably have to be the 1990 cc final, ’95 was like trying your first drug cocktail, 2007 SR final was like trying that same cocktail with dire consequences) 😈
@FireTheLooser (Comment 33) : you breaking the rules! rob he just mentiond the unspeakable 2007 sup………fina…………. u should be banned here for a good week for that
@Poisy (Comment 34) : 😛
@Poisy (Comment 34) : @FireTheLooser (Comment 35) : more like a month!
@robdylan (Comment 36) : hi all! happy new years! maybe i`m in the wrong year, but the Koegelenberg laaitie, did he play a full year u/19 last year, or will he be part of this group? i remember everyone rating him highly.
@robdylan (Comment 36) : i see now he played last year, my bad!
@VanWilder (Comment 38) : he got injured badly in club rugby last year and missed the u21 season. He’s with UKZN now
@robdylan (Comment 39) : Thanks Rob, hope he gets a good run.
How is Cam eligible to play U19? He was a year bellow me but a year old, so he will be turning 20 this year, also this is his third year playing Sharks U19, that’s amazing.
@Seth101 (Comment 41) : oh shit, sorry…
yes, I have made a bit of a blunder here in terms of what I’ve called these guys.
Cam is coming in as a contracted junior player, but he’s not an under 19. He repeated a year at Hilton, which is why he matriculated at 19. He’s eligible for the under 21s (and national under 20s) this year, but not the Sharks under 19 side
Nice read Rob
That loosehead prop du Toit looks a good acquisition
@Saffex (Comment 43) : yeah, he does.
Reckon a fast-tracking is in order