There’s been a bit of a stir about the composition of the 45-man under-18 squad that was named by SA Rugby last week. The group will be cut to 35 and it will be departing for Georgia on July 31 st . Although it has been stressed that this is not an official SA Schools or SA under-18 team, it will, never the less be playing three “internationals” against the hosts. Clearly, these are not usual times. The 2020 and 2021 school rugby seasons both did get going, but were both shut down soon afterwards. There was no Craven Week, or Grant Khomo Week last year and there haven’t been any this year either – although SA Rugby haven’t given up entirely on that yet. Under those circumstances, you have to ask why such a squad was chosen at all. And you have to acknowledge that whoever was tasked with making the selection had no chance of doing it properly. The thinking, I guess, is that we cannot afford to go into 2022 without a group of recognised elite junior players to make up the pool out ...
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