Not a bad read and appreciate the effort in the stats, in saying that I agree numbers are not always a true reflection of the issues at hand as identified in the article - but very interesting food for thought.
In regards to school rugby recruitment you do have to question whether recruiting junior RL stars on Rugby scholarships is actually helping the sport or hurting it? - I get schools want to have the best side they can to win the comp, but a high % of players go back to RL not just for the $ or opportunities but for the enjoyment of RL.
I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing but it doesn't benefit the game outside of school footy, Ponga etc were always heading back to the game they were playing previously - in regards to Super Rugby Teams not identifying talent so many examples:
Samu Kerevi was not picked up by anyone after finishing school at BSHS, after he left school he went and played U20 for Fiji and was picked up from his performance there.
Nemani Nandolo - had no offers after a dominating year at Nudgee and ended up at the Crusaders.
Matt To'omua - after the GPS season at BSHS no offers from anywhere excluding the one that sent him to the Brumbies
Tevita Kuridrani, David Poccock, Sean McMahon the list goes on - has it improved? with the inclusion of the URC U19 comp I would say yes. GPS exclusion (self inflected or not) from the National Secondary School Boy Comp I would say no