Long-term player development in rugby - how are we doing in South Africa?

Rugby is a sport where size does matter. Players who are bigger, stronger and faster have an advantage over smaller, less powerful players. These differences in size are exacerbated at the junior levels where players reach puberty at different stages. Furthermore, the problem is compounded in South Africa, where children from a low socio-economic environment are generally smaller and less powerful than their counterparts from more affluent areas.1 There is a strong likelihood that the smaller talented players will rather participate in sports in which they can express their talent and not be limited by their lack of size, as is the case in rugby. Some players in this group may be late developers, who possess the skills associated with success in rugby but lack the size. If these players are not managed appropriately, their superior skills may not ever have an opportunity to manifest and develop fully. This raises the point of having a wellconstructed long-term talent development model2 which considers that talent development is multi-factorial and dynamic in nature.3 Such a model would consider the differences in size during puberty and cater as much for the slow developers as it does for the early developers. Developing talent is not an easy task and requires ongoing monitoring to ensure that there are progressions in skill, physical ability and cognitive maturation.3 Failure to adopt a long-term talent development model, where talent and skills are developed systematically, will result in many players who may be late developers, choosing to play other sports where size is not such a distinguishing factor. This raises questions of whether rugby in South Africa needs to be managed differently to cater for these smaller players, particularly during the pre-pubertal years, where most of the variation in size exists