Ken Borland

The country’s wing stocks look very exciting at the moment what with Aphiwe Dyantyi’s heroics in Green and Gold and the likes of Makazole Mapimpi and Sbu Nkosi just waiting to recover from their injuries before exploding on to the international stage once again. But there is another hugely talented winger coming through in Aphelele Fassi, who just happens to be a team-mate of Nkosi and Mapimpi at the Sharks.

The 20-year-old Fassi has burst on to the scene in this year’s Currie Cup and he says the key to his breakthrough has been learning from more experienced players like Nkosi, Lwazi Mvovo and Mapimpi, all of whom are Springboks.

“It’s been a great year for me and the one thing I keep telling myself is that I need to learn more. The likes of Sbu have been there at the highest level and playing with guys like him, Lwazi and Makazole, they have guided me as seniors. It’s all about learning and I’m here now because of that.

“So I plan to learn even more and the coaching staff have given me all the support I need, they back me and I’m very grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given. As a player you intend to improve every time you run on the field and the Currie Cup is no different to the SuperSport Rugby Challenge in terms of speed and physicality, so I’ve set my game there, I’ve reached those levels,” Fassi said.

Perhaps the key to the great industry Fassi has shown out on the wing is that he actually prefers playing at fullback and he also excelled at flyhalf for his school, Dale College in King William’s Town.

“I prefer fullback more, but it’s about where the coach needs you. And obviously coming out of high school rugby, it’s not the same speed and physicality. So I’m working on my tackles, taking the high balls and my long clearance kicks,” Fassi, who also captained Dale at cricket and was a good enough all-rounder to earn junior provincial colours for Border, said.

Saturday’s game against the Golden Lions at Kings Park will provide another good measure of just how exciting a future Fassi has in rugby though, as he comes up against a stellar backline featuring the experienced Courtnall Skosan, Howard Mnisi, Lionel Mapoe and Andries Coetzee.

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If ever there was proof needed that South Africa’s entire rugby system is back-to-front, upside-down or just plain broken, it came with the news that Griquas Currie Cup coach Peter Engledow has been snapped up by Paarl Boys High.

The move from one of our top eight senior teams, and a region that is set to become a Pro14 franchise, to admittedly one of our best school rugby set-ups, highlights how the coaching pipeline in South Africa is entirely haphazard and more like a game of snakes and ladders than a smooth path from A to B.

I don’t blame Engledow at all for the decision, because the truth is that Griquas had already told him they were not going to renew his contract at the end of the season, despite his successes with the team and the bigger challenges that surely await them.

What is infuriating, however, is that yet another highly promising young coach is heading in the wrong direction. He joins a list that includes Dave Wessels, now coaching in Australia, Paul Treu, who has gone from huge success with the Springbok Sevens to being defence coach of the Stormers and now an assistant with the Western Province U21s, and even Nollis Marais, who took the Blue Bulls to the Currie Cup final in 2016 and won numerous age-group titles, but is now back languishing in the junior ranks.

South African rugby continues to pay far too much attention and spend way too many resources on the game at a few elite schools, which is not going to fix the problems that are increasingly becoming apparent the higher up the ladder you go. Rugby needs to become far more inclusive in order to grow the talent base, while at the same time, systems need to be refined at senior level such that the development of our best players is way more targeted and streamlined.

Unfortunately, putting schoolboy rugby in its rightful place – it should be a feeder to club rugby and not the focal point – is going to step on a few toes and shake up some ‘empires’ that have been built; there are some big fish swimming around in those small ponds. One also gets the feeling that many people who are resistant to transformation have set up ‘home’ in the schoolboy game, where their selfishness in trying to keep rugby as their sole preserve comes under less scrutiny from the authorities.

When schoolboy rugby was truly amateur, there were still little empires here and there, but they were based on power and ego. Today, the schoolboy game is awash with money and unscrupulous, greedy agents and administrators abound, the welfare of our children counting for nothing.

It seems some of our leading rugby schools are more fully professional than some of our senior provincial sides, and with that focus on money, there is going to be increasing pressure on our children. In particular, they are being coerced into focusing on rugby alone – basically choosing the sport as their career – to the detriment of their education. Never mind what playing win-at-all-costs rugby at that age does to their skill levels.

It was heartening to recently hear AB de Villiers, one of our greatest cricketers and a phenomenal all-round sportsman at school, say he was definitely not in favour of specialising too soon.

“I don’t believe a kid should choose too early what they’re going to do, at school you want to be participating in as much as possible. It worked for me, I didn’t just play cricket at school and I only decided that was the way to go later on. I was passionate about playing rugby for the Wit Bulle and I was a scratch golfer, plus I played tennis until I was 15 and I think it was a mistake giving it up then.

“Any sport that gets your feet and hands going is going to be good and I don’t believe schoolchildren should specialise too soon,” De Villiers, a product of Affies in Pretoria, said.

A new contracting model that stops certain unions from hogging all the talent as well as expanded South African participation in the Pro14 are both in the pipeline for SA Rugby, president Mark Alexander said on Wednesday.

The two initiatives are certainly linked as the success of South African teams playing in the Pro14 will depend on them performing well on the field, and there is little doubt the Southern Kings and Free State Cheetahs need to improve their depth to be competitive this year and beyond. Adding two more franchises to the mix will also put more of a premium on player resources.

“We are going to have more South African teams involved in the Pro14, possibly from 2020, we’re in negotiations about it and we are excited about it. We will then have four teams in the southern hemisphere and four in the north, which gives our players more opportunity. The Pro14 works financially for us, especially when we become full members in 2019/20.

“Griquas and Mpumalanga are now part of our franchise system and we are preparing them to play in Europe. We ignored the north for too long, it’s a very strong competition. Sanzaar is also a great competition for us, but the biggest problem is the distances you have to travel. Playing in the Pro14 helps with player welfare and being in the same time zone helps the broadcasters,” Alexander said at the tournament launch at SuperSport studios on Wednesday.

Alexander said that there had also been broad support for a new contracting model that limits the number of senior players each union can have on their books, as well as providing for a loan system that will help all the franchises.

“The new contracting system will allow for a draft. We cannot sustain a system with 990 professional players, but I believe we have enough players. But some franchises are sitting with six locks they have signed from Craven Week and a lot of them are sitting in the storeroom and not playing. They need to be playing instead of sitting around waiting for someone to get injured.

“The new player contracting model is vital in this regard, it will limit the number of players a union can sign to around 45-50 senior players, but there won’t be any pay limit in terms of budgets. This new model has come from the players’ association and it is a very good document. We have created a false market in this country and we need to be responsible because the first thing junior players do when they get signed is stop studying,” Alexander said.

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Everyone can see that the Springboks are not getting the results for the amount of effort they are putting in, but there is real pressure on them against France at the Stade de France. If they lose this weekend then that will be three defeats on the bounce which is not a good return.

Coach Rassie Erasmus will only have a 41% winning record if the Springboks lose to France, but we can see progress in their performances this year.

Last weekend against England was another Test that got away from Rassie and the Springboks though, who simply made too many mistakes.

In terms of Owen Farrell’s controversial last tackle, it was definitely, according to the laws, a clear penalty and yellow card. It was certainly a big shot, with the defender just trying to get his body in the way of the carrier, he made good shoulder contact but there were no arms involved. In fact, it is very hard to get the arms around when you are making that sort of tackle. The height as well was definitely penalisable.

The Springboks’ error-rate was particularly costly at lineout time and there were two main functions responsible for that – their alignment and the timing between the jumper and Malcolm Marx, who was having a technical issue with his throwing.

Having worked with Malcolm on his throwing between the ages of 18 and 21, plus being head-on with hookers throwing to the lollipop for 20 years, I can see exactly what went wrong. It’s like a golf swing and I can see if the shoulders, fingers or hips are wrong when he throws.

The Springboks used the middle pod a lot in their phase play, they play a 1-3-2-2, but after playing across the field you always eventually end up on the edge. Both teams tried to put the middle pod under pressure, but England did it better, making good reads with their defensive rush getting on top. The Springboks needed to play out the back more, while England did look to use their second line on attack and enjoyed a lot of success with that in the second half.

The Springboks were able to get tremendous field position in the first half through their scrum and maul, but the problem was, when you maul a lot, it means you get slow ball afterwards with forwards behind forwards latchers.

South Africa’s kicking game was good and with a few better bounces they would have had England under real pressure. They played two phases and kicked as they have done in their last six Tests, and found good space behind the England wingers. Scrumhalf Ivan van Zyl’s box-kicking was good, and it was a real war of the boot between him and Ben Youngs.

England regained the ball well though in the second half and they had the Springboks under pressure. In a gainline battle like last weekend’s Test, those aerial duels are crucial.

Damian de Allende found areas in which he was able to get outside the rush defence from behind the middle pod, he was able to find space, getting over the advantage line with good footwork, and he really gave the Springboks go-forward. Damian is now a regular in the team and he should consistently be putting in performances like that.

The Springboks used Warren Whiteley more in the wide channels, on the edge of the attack a lot, and Duane Vermeulen was under a lot of high balls, so they were a good loose-forward combination.

It was a very tactical game at Twickenham, with a lot of mauls, but England just had a bit more fluidity. The one real positive for the Springboks was the scrummaging, they absolutely destroyed England and got two tightheads, which is quite something at that level. The one crucial scrum penalty against them at the end was a 50/50 call though.

I’m really looking forward to this weekend’s game, I’ve gained a great respect for French rugby over the last four months. It’s going to be a big midfield battle against the two powerhouse French centres, Gael Fickou and Mathieu Basteraud. Flyhalf Camille Lopez is a great tactician and has a good kicking game, and plays flat on the gainline.

And the French forward pack is never poor.

Sbu Nkosi and Aphiwe Dyantyi were very good for the Springboks against England, but I’m looking forward to Willie le Roux and Faf de Klerk adding a bit more spark.

Stade Francais assistant coach John McFarland was the Springbok defence coach from 2012 through to the 2015 World Cup, where they conceded the least line-breaks in the tournament and an average of just one try per game. From 2001 to 2012 he won three SuperRugby titles (2007, 09, 10) with the Bulls and five Currie Cup crowns with the Blue Bulls. McFarland enjoyed three years with the Kubota Spears in Tokyo from 2016-18.