For those of you that do not know the Under 20 Rugby World Cup is currently on the go in Italy with the semi finals scheduled for Monday evening. This even is rather important for the next Rugby World Cup in 2027. Many of these players will be knocking on the doors of their national teams competing for places with the established players looking over their shoulders under pressure.
South Africa in the same pool as England has a points difference of 125 against 30 having scored 26 tries in just 3 matches. The gap between the two teams is that big.
The top 4 teams in the tournament play in the semi finals being South Africa vs Argentina and France vs New Zealand which is roughly the pecking order in the mens game. England play Wales for 5th spot and Australia play Italy for 7th spot. Georgia fight out for the wooden spoon with Spain.
There has been a few highlights thus far with the junior SA team hammering Australia and Scotland by more than 70 points. The SA team has managed to rotate their squad without facing too many challenges and no team has managed to live with their pace. England the defending champions were comfortably outplayed and were never in the match.
There is a big difference being shown in this tournament how big a gulf in class there is these days and this is down to the school boy rugby set up SA has in place. These junior players are no different from professional athletes and are ready to represent their country on the full test stage.
I have only been watching the highlights of each game and whilst the other teams have some stand out players the SA team seems to be littered with huge potential. The difference is they are still playing their power game through the forwards, but the main threat is the speedy back line that runs circles around their opponents.
The SA vs England game showed the depth in the squad as they rested most of their star players and it made very little difference. The second string players would walk into other national teams in this age group which is a scary thought for the next Rugby World Cup just 2 years away. I can see at least 5 or 6 players joining the SA Rugby squad after this tournament has been completed.
This is a conveyor belt of top rugby players that is being produced and this all stems from the grass roots level. School boy rugby is on another level in SA with top coaches who would normally be found coaching top teams around the world now applying their profession within the school boy rugby system.
In the past there was a gap between school boy rugby and professional rugby with some players being lost to other countries and now the talent is being looked after. Agents and scouts from overseas attend the school boy rugby matches as this is the prime ground finding the next super stars. Other countries must be looking on as this is the next level they all need to find otherwise they are going to struggle to compete.