30THURSDAY Land of missing rugby socks? Same place as hidden Friks and other diamonds
A MATE of mine loves telling the tale of how his mate (yes, this is a “man in the pub” story) was sick of his daughter, a very good hockey player at an unfashionable school down the South Coast, never getting a look-in at representative teams.
One day, he dropped her off at KZN trials wearing the socks of a top private school. Predictably, she was the star of the show.
Could be urban legend, but it could easily be true.
Imagine if Marcell Coetzee, who was an unknown flank at Port Natal High in his matric year, had gone to the South Zone trials in Glenwood socks.
In the unlikely event he had got away with being an imposter (the Glenwood coaches might have had 45 players at the trials and missed him!) he would probably have made the SA Schools side that year.
We know that he did not even make the final trials in his year because he had not been “identified” before the trials. Selectors do not have the time to watch B division school matches, and concentrate on the cream of the crop. Fair enough. A year out of school, Coetzee was a Shark and the following year a Springbok.
After the disappointment of not making Craven Week he was going to take up farming, but his school coach was so convinced that a diamond was about to be discarded that he cajoled the Sharks Academy into accepting Coetzee (as a paying student).
There are rough diamonds everywhere. Some are never discovered.
Back in 2002, I recall then Bok coach Rudolf Straeuli telling me that, according to Danie Craven, every town in South Africa has an undiscovered Frik du Preez in those little primary schools with the yellow fields.
Straeuli was determined to find them. It was why he had that thing for travelling to watch B section games. He really did.
Straeuli was coach of South Africa in an era of impoverished talent. It was one of those times when we had really kak Boks once the greats of the 90s had retired.
The 2003 World Cup squad was terrible, but then in 2004 a bunch of 20-23 year olds all started coming through – Schalk Burger, Victor Matfield, John Smit, Juan Smith, Bakkies Botha, Fourie du Preez, Jaque Fourie, Bryan Habana etc.
Straueli had known about them, but 2003 was too soon for them (and him). He believed he had found the new Mof Myburgh (the mighty prop of the ’60s) in one Christo Bezuidenhout from the Mpumalanga Pumas during a scouting trip to Witbank.
The 33-year-old loosehead was 120kg and 1.87m, not exactly a giant, but he was feisty and unknown, and Rudolf had a feeling he could be a secret weapon in Perth. That was not the case... The point is Straueli tried to look out of the box. He never stopped looking for those hidden “Friks” beyond the range of the typical selection nets.
How many Marcell Coetzees are out there at “weak” schools, lost to rugby, while one school alone can have 29 players at a Craven Week trial? This system can’t be right. Another South Zone player who made it to the top was Clyde Rathbone, the Wallaby wing who went to Kingsway High in Amanzimtoti.