Young guns fresh out school prove mettle
Coach impressed with two players’ ‘incredible skills’
WHEN they said a big point of the SuperSport Rugby Challenge was to unearth young talent, they can’t have meant directly from the womb.
That apparently seems to be the take of the Cell C Sharks XV, who have taken the competition’s mandate to its logical conclusion by fielding players straight from school, while the other teams are still erring on the side of relative caution by picking players from U21 teams and at Varsity Cup level.
In their 57-28 win against the Leopards at the Rustenburg Festival on Sunday, Ricardo Loubscher played two youngsters – Aphelele Fassi and J J van der Mescht – who were still at school at Dale College and Glenwood High School respectively this time last year.
The former, in his second game at this level, put in such a dominant performance he was the man-of-thematch, while the latter threw his considerable weight around to good effect against his elders in the 26 minutes he was given on debut.
“Part of my job is to fast-track these guys into senior rugby, but these guys are such talents,” said Loubscher.
“The most important thing with guys that age is their discipline, to keep working hard to adapt to training twice or three times a day.
“The big thing when you’re working with good youngsters is you want to see if they can handle the pressure, the intensity and the collisions at this level. They’ll make mistakes, but these guys are showing promise.”
So much promise that Fassi’s performance earned him a training session with the Super Rugby squad this week.
Fassi’s personal highlight’s reel saw him throw a miracle, no-look, reverse pass while being pushed into touch for lock Hyron Andrews to canter in and score; break a few Leopards’ ankles with his outrageous stepping en route to creating centre Johan Deysel’s try; and chase from inside his half for his own try.
Loubscher remembered the first time he saw the youngster, at the Kearsney Easter Festival last year: “His school came back from 20-0 down that day and he was the main instigator – I remember thinking what a talent.
“Five months later, I’m sitting with a cool-headed and down-to-earth guy with an incredible skills set,” said Loubscher, whose skills set assertion was proven by a bicycle kick touchfinder under pressure by the youngster.
“For me the most impressive aspect of his game was in that kick-chase for his try, he showed desire – and you love that kind of character as a coach.”
Van der Mescht’s sheer size means he can mix it with the big boys. Built like a number four lock (he is 2.01m and 132kg, having lost about 5kg in pre-season training) but possessed with the skills of a number five lock, it’s hard to believe the youngster was petrified of his matric exams last year.
“I didn’t see much of him when he was at school but he’s also got an incredible skills set and is such a talent.”
Believe it or not, there’s more. Apparently outside centre Sicelo Tole is waiting on the wings, should anything unfortunate happen to current centres Jeremy Ward and Tristan Blewett. While his surname means calf, the former Muir College pupil is apparently more bull in output.
Described as a beast by an age group coach who knows him, the former EP Craven Week and SA Schools player (2016) is said to be strong and a very good ball carrier with presence, the main calling card of his game being a stinging physicality.