Rugby
Mexted: SA juniors lack skills
2011-06-26 17:10
Murray Mexted (Gallo Images)
|
Marco BothaCape Town - A lack of basic skills could be blamed for the Baby Boks' failure to reach the top four at the recent IRB junior World Championship.
And former All Black eightman, Murray Mexted, believes South Africa could lose their status as one of world rugby's powerhouses if they don't drastically improve the skills of their young players.
Mexted was at the International Rugby Academy's development camp in Rustenburg last week.
He feels that young South African players possess the necessary physical and psychological requirements, but there's a "shocking lack of basic skills".
"We practiced skills and the standard was much lower than it should be. Some players could only execute one type of pass - and that wasn't the most accurate one.
"There must be better development of skills amongst junior (South African) players, and not only the physical development that's currently taking place," said Mexted, amongst other things referring to the first day of the camp.
The Baby Boks are in excellent shape and the average weight of the players has increased from 94.4kg in 2010 to 98.9kg this year.
But despite their impressive physical characteristics, the Baby Boks lacked basic finishing and good structure, especially during open play in their recent games.