There was a
man called Dawie Crowther, a retired school principal and former SA Schools
selector, working as a freelancer for Die Burger at the Craven Week for quite a
few of the years when I was in the press box representing Independent
Newspapers. He used to select his own SA Schools team each year – who he would
choose, he stressed - not necessarily who the selectors were going to pick.
He’d been
to more weeks than anyone else I know of, and when he had decided that he’d
seen his last, he published his list of the best Craven Week players ever. I’ve
always regretted that I never kept a copy of it.
I remember
a few of the names, though. Ruben Kruger was one, Wahl Baartman another, and
Stephen Brink. He chose the one player who impressed him most in the 30 plus years
that he attended the week, and it was someone who never played serious rugby
after school – Herschelle Gibbs.
You can
definitely see clearer in hindsight than in prediction so why not, I thought,
replace my usual 1st day of the Craven Week “players to look out
for” piece with a list of players that everyone took notice of. I won’t be at
the Craven Week this year – so I won’t be spotting anyone new - but it is based on some 30-odd years of going
there.
My first
week as a reporter was in 1990 in Durban, although I was at the 1988 week as
manager of the then Transvaal XV and I was coach of the Transvaal side that won
the main game at Ellis Park in 1989. Those were largely honorary positions
those days, but still, I did get an inside look that has stood me well down the
years.
In 1988 in
Port Elizabeth, Ruben Kruger was the player everyone was talking about. I don’t
remember much of his play, but he was a swarthy, hairy giant who looked at
least five years older than any other player there.
In 1990 in
Durban Os du Randt made a huge impact. A prop, playing for one of the smaller
teams – North East Cape – who destroyed scrums and ran like a back.
1992 was
Herschelle’s year. He scored most of Western Province’s points in their main
game win over Free State and, because he was Herschelle, he was disciplined for
missing a team event because he was away at a hypermarket signing cricket bats
for his sponsor.
He wasn’t
the only WP player to impress that year. Percy Montgomery stood out and was
clearly destined for greater things too.
The next
name that jumps out was Joe Van Niekerk. He was the star of the coldest week I
remember – 1998 in Vanderbijlpark. He also made Dawie Crowther’s “best ever”
list, I recall.
Rustenburg
in 2001 stands out because it was the year when they forced the Paarl Schools
into the Boland camp, where they actually belong, and in that Boland team was a
player that stands out for me – Derek Hougaard.
The 2007
Free State team was in a class of its own in Stellenbosch, but for some reason
only a handful of them was selected for the SA Schools team. One who did get
the nod was Robert Ebersohn, and he was very good. But it was his brother,
Sias, who really had everyone talking that year.
Two other
Grey College boys stand out around that time – Johan Goosen, in Welkom in 2010
and Jan Serfontein the next year in Kimberley. Serfontein’s burgeoning talent
was somehow coached away in the ensuing years – one of the greatest tragedies
in SA rugby.
We are into
modern times now, so the stories of the players are not yet fully written. Some
have already achieved big things, others might still do so.
Here are
those that stand out for me: Malcolm Marx and Rohan Janse van Rensburg (PE,
2012), Kwagga Smith (Polokwane 2013), Embrose Papier (Middelburg 2014), Salmaan
Moerat and Curwin Bosch (Stellenbosch 2015), Damien Willemse,
Wandisele Simelane and Tyrone Green (Kearsney 2016).
The fact
that so many of those named are still playing, and not peaked yet, illustrates
the challenges facing young players trying to get ahead in a talent-rich system
such as ours.
There won’t
be another Herchelle Gibbs in Bloemfontein this week – there will only ever be
one of him – but one or two are going to stick their hands up, no doubt about
that.
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