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Springboks debunk South African schoolboy rugby myth
By Josh Raisey
From the Springboks to age-grade level, South African rugby players have the reputation of being bigger and more physical than their opponents. But is that actually the case?
While some behemoths remain in the Springboks set-up, Rassie Erasmus has gone against this stereotype at times during his tenure. The Boks head coach has a proclivity to pick more diminutive players as well - playing the 100kg Kwagga Smith at No.8 being a prime example - but it will take more than that to shake such a well-established reputation.
The same applies for their U20s side. While the reputation the Springboks have has trickled down to the junior side, the Boks Office team recently discussed whether it holds any truth.
Former Springboks Hanyani Shimange, Schalk Burger and Jean de Villiers were joined by current Springbok Evan Roos on the latest podcast, where Shimange asked "are we bigger than everyone else or is it just something from the outside?" Adding that the South Africa U20 side "look like grown men."
The question came after the recent World Rugby U20 Championship, where a video surfaced of the South Africa U20 side that eventually finished in seventh place.
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"The size of South African schoolboys- are we bigger than everyone else or is it just something from the outside?" Shimange asked in response to the video. "It's something that's always spoken about, the size of our guys. There's a bunch of 19-year-olds and they look like grown men."
The consensus was not necessarily that the South African team is not big, but that everyone else is as well.
"In my time, France and England were bigger than us, SA schools U19s," said Roos, who represented South Africa Schools in 2018.
"I think it's just a perception," he added.
De Villiers said: "I saw the Fijian U20 team, they are huge but also they're consistent. So whether it's the wing or the lock, you wouldn't know the difference from a skill set point of view, a weight point of view, speed point of view, they're all the same.
The former Springboks captain continued by explaining why players are now so big from a young age.
"The schoolboy system is so professional now in that it's high-performance environments from a young age," he added.
"It's debatable whether that's good or not - I've got my opinion on that as well - but I think it has a part to play in eventually why we are successful at the highest level. They are on gym programmes far earlier and the work ethic from some of these kids."
While this programme looks to benefit South Africa in the long run, they would have lost one of their all-time greats in Burger had he come through the same set-up in his youth.
"There's no chance if I was 15 and they made me go for gym sessions," he said. "I would have checked out three months after."
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Italy beat both Wales and Scotland and tied France in this year's Six Nations.
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