He is currently the director of rugby at the Houston Sabercats in the USA. “You could say that our players aren’t as skillful as those in New Zealand at high school level, but the competition among our youngsters forces them to develop other qualities.”Īfter coaching the Bulls and Boks, Meyer enjoyed stints at Leicester Tigers and Stade Francais. “Rugby is just so massive in South Africa, and it’s for this reason that players start as young as six or seven playing mini-rugby,” he says. He is well aware of how the local culture contributes to player development. It all fuels the idea that representing your school 1st XV is an achievement in itself.” Students at the King Edward VII school take part in the traditional “War Cry” ahead of an inter-school rugby (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)ĭuring his successful tenure with the Bulls, Meyer followed the schoolboy rugby scene closely and recruited young stars from around the country for the Pretoria-based franchise’s programme. “School matches are big community events down south, and you see major companies like Mercedes sponsoring tents and so on. The old boys don’t get behind the school teams like they do in South Africa. “It’s very different up in England, where you don’t have the same level of community support and involvement. “I went to the Easter festivals and it was incredible to witness the level of support. “What struck me was the atmosphere at the games,” he says. He explains why the situation is very different to what many experience in England. The annual derby between Paarl Boys’ High and Paarl Gymnasium has to be staged at the town’s Faure Street Stadium in order to accommodate some 20,000 passionate fans.Īlex Shaw, Ealing Trailfinders’ head of recruitment, recently travelled to South Africa to visit a few schools and unions. Teenagers are competing in front of big crowds on a regular basis. Local communities have played their part in creating a game-day atmosphere similar to that of a club derby. At present, there isn’t a great deal separating the top 20 schools teams in the country. More schools have hired professional coaches and implemented high-performance programmes, and the schoolboy rugby scene has become fiercely competitive as a result. Since 1992, more has been done to harness the talent in the black and mixed-race communities – which comprises approximately 90% of the total population. The fall of apartheid and a move towards professionalism led to monumental changes across the various levels of South African rugby. SPRINGBOKS BY SCHOOL (ALL-TIME) PAUL ROOS GYMNASIUM (STELLENBOSCH) Grey College in Bloemfontein ranks second on the list (46). Paul Roos Gymnasium tops the all-time list for Springboks produced (54) while three other Western Cape institutions – Bishops Diocesan College, South African College Schools (SACS) and Paarl Gymnasium – feature in the top five. “I’ve coached in England and France, and I’m now involved in the United States, and I can tell you that the system in South Africa is a class apart.”įor a long time, there were a handful of schools that were widely acknowledged as bona fide South African rugby factories. “There’s no question in my mind that the South African schools set-up is the most professional in the world,” says former Springbok and Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer. The schools as well as SA Rugby’s Elite Performance Development programme routinely produce athletes with the physical and mental aptitude to succeed in professional rugby. Ensure the health and safety of your people as you start with but a humble town and work your way up to a large city.While form and results fluctuate at the elite level, South Africa’s production line is unfailingly consistent. Embark on adventures and quests to help your allies wrest free from Loki's insidious machinations, whether it's a plague of serpents or the demon wolf Fenris dropping by for a rather unexpected visit. Out of spite, he abuses our four human heroes-Sigurd, the Frank, Hatschi, the brave Saracen, Bjami, and Crya-with his intrigues and traps. Now Loki is plotting revenge and searching for a possibility to sneak back into Asgard and pay Odin back. Buy Cultures - 8th Wonder of the World: About the GameThe Vikings are back!Loki, known from the Nordic sagas as a versatile god of lies and weaver of many intrigues against his divine 'colleagues', has been banned from Asgard by Odin as a punishment for the trouble caused by the Midgard serpent.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |