Yesterday as expected the Junior Springbok Under 20 rugby team won the world cup by defeating New Zealand in the final. The match was littered with handling errors due to the humidity as we all know wet hands and a synthetic rugby ball do not mix very well and it is like handling soap. The SA team won 23-15 and on a drier day with more favorable conditions with less humidity they would have scored far more points.
South Africa last won the Junior Rugby World Cup back in 2012 which goes to show the ground roots rugby program is now bearing fruit. Initially started off with 3 schools back in 2008 the program now has 466 schools involved and has grown into a monster business.
The grass roots program has evolved and will continue to evolve and is now a multi billion Rand industry. I have mentioned in previous posts how on a Saturday there will be televised matches with millions of viewers tuning in from around the world.
More viewers mean more revenue for broadcasters as they have sponsors paying for advertising slots. Schools are having their rugby kit sponsored with companies looking for more coverage. Local companies are jumping on the band wagon as many of the school matches have thousands of spectators attending the live event and parents will support companies supporting their kids. Old boys will support companies investing in their school so this is quite a good common sense business plan if you want to expand your business directly with future customers.
What was interesting to note during the junior world cup tournament is how dominant the South African team was and you kind of felt sorry for the opposing teams. There was a significant gulf in class and talent and that is not something that happens overnight, but comes from the grass root school level which comes from years of coaching. If other countries are going to catch up it will be many years as this has taken over a decade to get right and making some sort of impact.
Last week during the Springbok Italy test the National SA team used a move stolen from a school boy team and it has got many people talking around the world. Innovation testing the rule/law barriers not coming from the National coaching set up, but by those coaching school boy teams testing out if new moves are legal or not and more importantly if they actually work.
The difference is you have top coaches who could be coaching professional teams working with junior amateur players which is going to change and test rugby moving forward. I am sure the International Rugby Board will be busy going through the lawbook and trying to make sense of what is coming as this has not happened before. Every school team will be trying to get the upper hand over their rivals as there is so much money involved by finishing on top of the pile.
This tournament is played every year unlike the adult Rugby World Cup which is played every 4 years. We will have to wait and see what happens next year ,but the team will have over half the team returning next year as they are still under 20.