Who Are The Leading Scrumhalves In South Africa @ 1stXV Level?

Photo by Jorina Raath/Speedshots.co.za

Bart Schoeman and I analysed most of the available footage of 1stXV games (2020) during the "lockdown" weeks and attempted to identify our top players in each position. 

The Top scrumhalves we identified were:  1. Rowan Cloete (Garsfontein), Johan Muller (Affies), 3. Bradley Davids (Paarl Gim), 4. Tiaan Fourie (Grey College), 5. Keune Kirkham (Helpmekaar).

The following boys also caught our attention: 1. Abdurageem Ismael (Milnerton), Prolight Shoba (Northwood), Jaun-Dee Oliver (Grey College), Divan Moss (Grey High), Imad Khan (Bishops).

Injured Players or not seen in 2020: Luke du Toit (Kearsey).

Please keep in mind that we could only evaluate players of which we had footage available and our selections were based on the performance on that day. Furthermore, we do not claim that we know all and if you disagree you are welcome to contact me (carl@ruggas.co.za) or Bart (bart@sportscon365.com). If you feel that we missed a player please send details of where we can find the videos and/or links of videos. Coaches and parents are more than welcome to discuss the players and evaluation with the match analysis.

 

Listen to the discussion regarding the scrumhalve at 34:40 in the above RuggasTV episode

Please keep in mind that any technical and positional evaluation of a player must be reinforced by the following aspects for a player to grow in future and especially after school:

1) Strength of character. Any successful sportsman will need to apply himself in honesty, teamwork and full support of the system that he works under.
2) Work ethic and personal application to improve himself, in sport and off the field. He must be ‘coachable’
3) Lifestyle and value-driven. Being a sportsman full time, semi- or full professional, requires a dedicated lifestyle change to reach set goals and to become a better human being.

Scrumhalf - A Scrumhalf should be the link between the forwards and the backs, he is the key rugby positions when it comes to building attacks. He is playing just behind the forwards, a good scrum-half will control exactly when the ball is fed out to the backs from the rear of a scrum, ruck or maul.

Position-specific Requirements:

General
1) He must have natural instinct and confidence.
2) He must have a quick and accurate pass off either hands, particularly left.
3) He must have pace and feet.
4) He must have a good understanding with 8 and 10 to execute required game management
5) He must be able to make quick decisions, can read the game and change tactics when necessary
6) He must organize and direct forwards especially at ruck time
7) He must organize the defence: sweeping and understanding cross cover timing.
8) He must have an accurate and consistent box and grubber kick with both feet as a means of relieving pressure but also to regain possession
9) As part of the ‘core trio’ 8-9-10 the 9 must have leadership skills and can often be part of the leadership as captain, vice-captain and key decision maker
Distribution
1) Swift clearing and able to adapt to quick runners onto the ball or slower runners and forwards in contact
2) He must be able to threaten the defense in a variety of ways including distribution and kicking
Attack
1) He must have vision and the ability to use “blindside”
2) He must have a quick and accurate pass off either hand (most especially the left)
3) He must have strong linking skills between backs and forwards. Speed to breakdowns. Instinctive.
4) He must be an explosive runner from base and phase(speed and strength)
5) He must break with strenght/speed/decisiveness from set and phase play
6) He must have organizational and talking skills, understanding options, moves, and when to use.
Defence
1) He must have good organizational and talking skills, and understand the threats from opponents
2) He must be a strong and aggressive tackler
3) He must be able to communicate and organize the defensive screens with loose forwards and others (e.g. 10 and Blindside wing)

Games watched: Milnerton vs Melkbosstrand, Brackenfell vs Durbanville, Bellville vs Stellenberg, SACS vs Boland Landbou, Wynberg vs Paul Roos, Rondebosch vs Paarl Boishaai, Paarl Gim vs Bishops, Affies vs Helpmekaar, Dale vs Muir, Hudsonpark vs Nico Malan, Queen's vs Pearson, Grey HS vs Brandwag, Kingswood vs Selborne, St Andrew's vs Framesby, Graeme vs Marlow, Gonubie vs Mzzomhle, Chief Boklein vs Aplandale, Queen's vs Stirling, Grens vs Toise, Cambridge vs de Vos Malan, Dale vs Port Rex, Selborne vs Hudson Park, Menlopark vs Ben Vorster. Boishaai vs Monnas, Affies vs Diamantveld, Dale College vs Muir College, Grey College vs Welkom Gim, St Alban's vs Kroonstad AHS, EG Jansen vs Invitation XV, Garsfontein vs Kempton Park, Frikkie Meyer vs Stellenberg, Montana vs Die Anker, Waterkloof vs Outeniqua, Boland Landbou vs Middelburg HTS, Pretoria Boys High vs Paarl Gimnasium.

Next week we will include another 18 games of which we received footage of.