Former Sharks coach John Plumtree says the black talent filtering through the system will make South African rugby a ‘scary proposition’ in years to come.
Plumtree, addressing the media in the aftermath of the Hurricanes’ triumph over the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday, believes the rapid rise of black talent will make it difficult to beat local teams on home soil in future despite the player drain in South Africa.
‘The talent train in this country will never stop. I know it’s a struggle to keep players in the country, and that is similar to New Zealand rugby, but we back our talent, we back our development and we back our schools and clubs and everyone coming through the system,’ said Plumtree.
‘And that won’t change in this country, it’s gonna get even better because obviously our black players in this country are getting better and better and South African rugby is going to be a scary proposition if it keeps going like this. As long as it’s well organised and the coaching is good, it’s always going to be a tough place to win.’
The 53-year-old, who spent six years at the Sharks, added that he is happy to see the increase in depth in South African rugby.
‘There’s still so much talent here and it’s good to see so many young backs in this country coming through. They’re so quick. We played against a really talented [Sharks] side last week in Durban with some great young players who I don’t know, but who have developed over the years, and the same here [in Johannesburg].
Plumtree declined to weigh in on the raging Curwin Bosch versus Rob du Preez debate, but said that Bosch is a player who he believes has a bright future ahead of him.
‘Yeah I don’t know about all of those things [at the Sharks], but Curwin and Robert are both good players. It’s nice to have those kind of selection problems. Curwin is an outstanding talent that is going to play a lot of Test matches for South Africa, I believe. There are one or two areas in his game that he’ll need to tidy up, but he is an outstanding player.’
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