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Getting to Know: South Africa U20s full-back Bruce Sherwood

South Africa U20's full-back Bruce Sherwood

Bruce Sherwood starting at full-back is one of three changes that the Junior Springboks have made to their XV for Thursday’s World Rugby U20 Championship clash with Argentina at Stellenbosch.

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The Capetonian, who celebrated his 20th birthday last week ahead of the opening-round win over Fiji at DHL Stadium, was part of Bafana Nhleko’s squad at the recent U20 Rugby Championship on the Gold Coast.

Before facing the Argentinians, Sherwood became the latest player to tackle the RugbyPass Getting to Know Q&A series. Here are his answers:

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HITS, BUMPS AND HANDOFFS! | The biggest collisions from the U20s World Championships

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HITS, BUMPS AND HANDOFFS! | The biggest collisions from the U20s World Championships

THE BASICS
Born: June 29, 2004;
Joined South Africa age-grade: It would be grade 12, 18 years old against France in 2022;
Club: Stormers, Western Province;
Height: 6ft 1;
Weight: 93;
Position: Full-back, inside centre;
Boots: Adidas. What are they? I think they are RS7;
Gumshield: MAX;
Headgear: No;
School: Bishops College.

RATE YOURSELF (out of 100)
Pace: 95;
Passing: 90;
Tackling: 90;

Fixture
World Rugby U20 Championship
South Africa U20
12 - 31
Full-time
Argentina U20
All Stats and Data

THE PAST
My favourite South Africa player of all time is… I would go Jean de Villiers;

Favourite try I have ever scored is… It would have to be one from school in a big derby game against St Andrew’s;

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A rugby memory that makes me smile is… Playing with my mates at school;

The moment I realised I could make it is… I reckon towards the end of my school when you start getting contract negotiations;

One piece of advice I would give to my younger self is… Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work;

My best subject in school was… History;

The first player who made me fall in love with rugby is… Dan Carter;

Growing up, my position was… Always inside centre but I play full-back now;

The coach who has most impacted my game is… Senna Esterhuizen.

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THE PRESENT
My best attributes on the field are… Ball-carrying and off-loading;

One thing I’m doing to improve my education is… I’m studying online short courses in investment management;

My favourite current South Africa player is… Handre Pollard;

My favourite YouTuber is… Not really;

My hardest working teammate is… I’d say Asad Moos;

My most skilful teammate is… I’d say Jurenzo Julius;

My favourite training drill is… Kicking exercise;

My favourite music artist is… I’ll go Coldplay.

THE FUTURE
A player who could go all the way is… I’d say Asad Moos;

If I could play with anyone, I would like to play with… Finn Russell;

I will be happy with my career if I… Win trophies;

One thing I want to add to my game is… Having started to play at full-back more, probably aerial skills;

If I could play in any other country, I would play in… France;

One person I want to meet is… Tom Brady;

One trophy I would love to win is… U20 Rugby World Cup.

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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