Future is bright for young Sharks
IT HAS been well documented by coach Gary Gold that the Sharks are trying to break new ground in the Currie Cup by wherever possible picking young players that may or not make it in the domestic competition. It is a case of nothing ventured nothing gained.
This policy of growing depth for the Super Rugby competition in 2016 is well illustrated in the front row that has done duty in the first two rounds of the Currie Cup. We know the famed Du Plessis brothers have left for France (via duty for the Boks in the Rugby World Cup), that Tendai Mtawarira is on Bok duty but will be back, and injuries to the next tier in Dale Chadwick, Kyle Cooper and Lourens Adriaanse mean Gold has to look towards the youngsters coming through.
His options are encouraging. At hooker, Monde Hadebe has long been underrated but it is the props either side of him that have caught the eye of Sharks supporters.
Yes, we have known about Thomas ‘The Tank Engine’ du Toit for some time, and now he has been joined on the other side of the scrum by another SA Under-20 player in Juan Schoeman.
The latter is a 23-year-old product of Afrikaans Hoer in Pretoria, and his younger brother, Pierre, has just played for the national Under-20 team and pos- sibly would be playing Currie Cup for the Bulls by now had he not been injured in pre-season.
Du Toit has for some time been part of Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer’s long-term planning but there has been debate as to whether he should play tighthead or loosehead, or try to play both with the attendant risk of becoming a utility prop perfect for the bench.
“Thomas is a 130kg piece of meat and is just 20 years old, and when he gets it right he is going to be a great rugby player,” Gold said ahead of the Sharks’ match against the Lions at Kings Park on Saturday.
The Sharks, in consultation with the Springbok forwards coach Pieter de Villiers, see his future as a specialist tighthead, a position where incumbent Jannie du Plessis is approaching the end of his Test career and some of the pretenders to his throne have been found out at international level in this year’s Rugby Championship
“Thomas has a lot to learn and I am happy to put him in the deep end, and this is where he must sink or swim,” Gold said. “He has a lot to learn, and we are working closely with the Bok scrum coach on his development.”
Hooker Hadebe has done a long apprenticeship in the considerable shadow of Bismarck du Plessis, Cooper and even latterly in a newcomer in Franco Marais. Throwing-in to the lineout has been a concern at times in the Sharks’ opening two Currie Cup games, and the hookers will know that this cannot endure into Super Rugby.
At loosehead, Schoeman has shown promise. He is an energetic prop and the genes obviously run in his family with his brother having captained SA Schools. “Juan is a fantastic athlete,” Gold said. “He is over 120kgs, he is very quick over 50 metres, his work rate very high, and while he has had little top class rugby, his class and pedigree are evident.”
The Lions were one of the best scrumming units in Super Rugby. They have the same players available to them in the Currie Cup, one of the reasons why they are favourites for the title, and what better chance for the Sharks’ young guns than to show what they can do than at Kings Park on Saturday.