Generally, the players who are part of the Australian 7's program and are under the age of 20 are within our best 30 u20 rugby players. This is evident through performance as well as the fact that those guys are exposed to a more professional environment quicker than others. Is it ideal to have 3 or 4 of your group not playing 15's before a tournament? God No. Was it necessary to bring our best players? Heck yes. I understand your frustrations happy to chat in that it isn't perfect for our preparations yet currently Australian rugby, and particularly the cross over between 'elite development pathways' and club rugby is awful.
There are some vast misconceptions that players who come straight out of school who are 'stars' can perform against those a year or two older. Such time in a colts program allows player to both physically and mentally mature. This means boys who were not part of such prestigious rugby schools or were neglected by their programs have the opportunity to develop over a greater time period and this is where talent shines through. I believe that it is almost a necessity for players from schoolboy age to play at least a full years worth of colts before being selected by their u20's program. This allows us to see a greater amount of talent as we have the opportunity to see more boys as those who are fresh out of school get their chance the following year to stake their claim. Let's look at Semisi Tupou here. The kid is a major talent and this is obvious for us all to see. However, some of his defensive reads were shaky and sometimes had a lack of calmness to his play which forced his own errors. I have no doubts that he will be a star in the future and I think he is one of the best players coming through in the back 3 in his age group but surely a years worth of colts footy could have helped him just be that little bit older, a little bit wiser?
Rugby is the cure to our issues. Playing actual rugby. I know that the u20's groups spent at least 2-3 months undergoing brutal preseason work and while this is necessary for the development and injury prevention, why not firgure out a way to get our boys playing more footy? This is where we learn things. Take for example Hamish Stewart, who's lack of play time has been well documented over the past two months. A major issue for him, much like our current young patch of Australian fly halves, is our ability to control the tempo of the game, be able to take the ball closer to the line before distributing and to kick accurately. Now surely by playing lets say, 4 more games in this period (a conservative estimate) his understanding of tempo continues to improve, he's practiced his in game kick accuracy and can attempt to play the ball closer to the line.
I also believe that no player is ready to be on a Super Rugby level contract in Australia staight out of school. Campbell Magnay, Nick Jooste and Will Eadia (On an EPS) are all good footy players who have a future in the sport. Obviously part of the reasoning was to stop these boys being lost to other codes. Currently the NRL has the lure of u20 contracts (which pay a lot more than anything our youngsters get) but by the end of this season, this is gone. Hopefully this sees us keeping a few more of the Angus Crichton's, Taane Milne's and Tepai Moeroa's who are doing well in the NRL currently. Yet not many can argue the Campbell Magnay has played enough footy to help him develop to where we all know he can go.
Rant over.