“We don’t need this kind of thing” [in SA rugby]

Former Springbok flyhalf, Naas Botha has spoken out about the behaviour of some rugby players at the school level after an incident in Gauteng this weekend where a fist fight broke out after a second team match between John Vorster Technical High School and Waterkloof High School in Pretoria.

Apparently, the fight broke out after final whistle blew and the players had shaken hands. One of the John Vorster players allegedly took the first shot at the Waterkloof full back, and the melee broke out from there. One Waterkloof player apparently lost consciouness for a while.

Botha, who is one of the coaches at Waterkloof, told reporters:

A one to three-week ban won’t teach these guys a lesson. Remove them from the game, because we [the rugby community] don’t need this kind of thing. At some stage SARU (SA Rugby Union) should step in and take serious measures against players who behave like this.

Both schools reported that the incident was under investigation.

There have been several incidents of school rugby matches turning violent in the last few years. In March, several players and even onlookers were knocked unconscious when a brawl broke out at a school match in Mpumalanga.

Last year, the general manager of Western Province Youth Rugby, Theo Kleynhans, blamed coaches and sports managers at schools for inciting aggression in their players, leading to the outbreaks of violence during and after matches.

This was after an incident in the Western Cape in June last year where a Trafalgar High player was apparently stomped repeatedly so hard on the head by a player from SACS during a match that he got a concussion and sustained serious facial injuries.

[Source: News 24, IOL, EWN, SA Rugby]