SA Rugby has revamped its professional junior rugby pathways with the creation of a new Under-23 competition to ensure emerging players are optimally prepared for senior rugby.
The change was approved at a Special General Council meeting of SA Rugby on Wednesday, following a thorough review of the playing calendar, to provide additional opportunities for game time at an important developmental stage of playing careers.
The new SA Rugby Under-23 Cup competition will kick off next month for the four Vodacom United Rugby Championship franchises. The Under-19 competition has been discontinued, while the SA Rugby U20 Cup will return to the local schedule for the first time since 2023, replacing the SA Rugby U21 Cup (“first division”) competition. The U21 Shield competition (“second division”) remains unchanged.
The changes were made to ensure a better pipeline for players coming out of school and into the junior ranks, before progressing to senior rugby, said Dave Wessels, General Manager of SA Rugby’s High-Performance Department.
“We’ve seen the brilliant work done by our schoolboy coaches, and as a result, our U18 teams have been in dominant form for some years, but that didn’t translate into success atthe U20 level,” said Wessels.
“Something was amiss between the U18 and U20 levels, with other countries somehow overtaking us, and after a thorough review, we realised this age group needs more competitive game time.
“Some of our Junior Bok players were playing as few as 10 games in the two years after school, which was much fewer than they were used to at the school level – not an ideal preparation environment. Ultimately, playing the game is the best teacher.”
Rian Oberholzer, CEO of SA Rugby, said the previous schedule was devised during the days of Super Rugby, and that there was an overlap in the U19, U21 and Carling Currie Cup competitions, which meant good young players who could feature in all three competitions were limited to playing only one of them.
With the Junior Springbok training camps and the FNB Varsity Cup Young Guns providing opportunities for U20 players early in the year, they will be able to build on that in the U20 Cup in the latter half of the season.
“By bringing in the new U23 competition, we hope to give the younger contracted players at our Vodacom URC franchises consistent rugby early in the year, so they are ready if they are needed at the senior level,” said Oberholzer.
“We should also look at ways to give our other unions the opportunity to recruit and develop talented players - so no one is lost to the system.
“Ultimately, we want to ensure that U23 players get as much quality game time as possible, and we will assist where we can if there are requests for these players to join provincial unions on loan from international franchises, for instance, to play in the Currie Cup.”
SA Rugby provincial age-group competitions
SA Rugby Under-23 Cup
Participating teams: Vodacom Bulls, Lions, Hollywoodbets Sharks, DHL Stormers
Opening round: 21 March (double round of matches with a final)
Final: 16 May
SA Rugby Under-20 Cup
Participating teams: Vodacom Bulls, Toyota Cheetahs, Golden Lions, Leopards, Hollywoodbets Sharks, DHL Western Province
Opening round: 16 May (double round of matches with two semi-finals and a final)
Final: 24 October
SA Rugby Under-21 Shield
Participating teams: Southern Section – Sanlam Boland, Border, Eastern Province, SWD Eagles; Northern Section – Griffons, Suzuki Griquas, Limpopo Blue Bulls, Airlink Pumas, Valke
Opening round: 22 August. Northern Section – single round, semi-finals and final; Southern Section – double round, semi-final and final (Sanlam Boland, Border, Eastern Province, SWD)
Final: 10 October (between the winners of the two sections)