Blue Bulls create new opportunities for youngsters with high profile under-20 club league
The participation of more than 50 contracted young players in the Blue Bulls' new under-20 club league is a revolutionary new concept that will create opportunities for young rugby players who are good enough to play professionally, but never had the opportunity at school to be noticed.
An exciting new era for local club rugby starts on April 6 when the first games in the brand-new Volcano Super under-20 club league will kick off.
There is great excitement in club rugby ranks about this league, where young players involved with the relevant clubs’ under-20 teams will have the opportunity to play with and against the Blue Bulls contracted under-19 players.
The Volcano Super League under 20 competition will be presented by the Blue Bulls as a strength versus strength competition with two sections. In the top section, seven teams from six of the Blue Bulls’ strongest clubs will initially compete against each other.
The President of the Blue Bulls rugby Union, Mr Willem Strauss, announced that more than 50 junior contracted players from their ranks will participate in this league. These players were given the opportunity to join one of the clubs involved and they will participate with and against all the other under-20 players from the relevant clubs.
The clubs that will initially be in the top section of the new league are Tuks (with two teams), Naka Bulls, Quins-Bobbies (QBR), Pretoria, Centurion and Tuine.
Five of the clubs are traditional “open clubs” which means any young under-20 rugby player in Pretoria can join their ranks to participate in the league.
While most of these clubs run their own academies and players from these academies are probably already earmarked to play in the league, spokesmen of the various clubs agreed that any interested players would still have the opportunity to prove themselves when joining their ranks.
“The Under-20 Super League will create a platform for contracted and club players to participate with and against one another for the first time in more than two decades in the Blue Bulls Rugby Union structure,” said Strauss.
He added that at the age of 19 or 20 the difference between contracted and non-contracted players are still marginal and that this creates the opportunity for non-contracted players to prove themselves as potential professional players.
According to Strauss this is also an opportunity for the contracted players to become better rugby players because he believes you can only become a better rugby player by playing the game and not necessary by spending months in the gym without game time.
The Volcano under-20 Super League will form part of the future Blue Bulls Project of which more detail will be announced in a couple of weeks. The future Blue Bulls project is aimed at creating an additional pipeline and pathway for players and coaches to the provincial, and even professional structures of the Blue Bulls.
The SARU Under 19 competition this year, will not be played on a league basis, but as a tournament at the end of the season.
Dr. Eugene Hare, CEO of the Blue Bulls, also confirmed that all players in the league will stand a chance to be selected for the Pumas, Falcons and Limpopo Blue Bulls to play in the under-20 competition of the Currie Cup B-section teams later in the season.
This possibility will provide a further opportunity for players without professional contracts to be noticed by recruiters of other unions, so they may well get a chance to make a name for themselves.
The Bulls’ young Springbok flanker, Marco van Staden, also attended the launch of the tournament and told his remarkable story of how he progressed from nowhere to the Springbok team in a few years. He described the tournament as a brilliant concept.
“In grade 11, I was still playing for Hoërskool Bekker as a scrumhalf. I then joined the Tuks club structures through which I was identified and promoted to the Blue Bulls squads,” Van Staden explained.
Strauss stressed that he believes that there are more players from Standen’s quality that never had the opportunity to participate in official provincial school’s tournaments and he believes that this new Volcano Super under-20 tournament will give such players the opportunity to take their rugby careers to the next level.
The Volcano under-20 Super League finals will be the main curtain raiser for the Bulls vs Lions game on 15 June 2019. Most of the league fixtures will take place at Loftus Versfeld on Thursday evenings during the season.
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