The fifteen best young players in Super Rugby

Every year Super Rugby reveals exciting young players or confirms that some who have made earlier appearances are the real deal. There is a bumper crop of young stars in 2013 and several of them will win be earning test caps before too long.

Here is a list of youngsters, aged 21 or younger at the time of writing (end of March 2013), who I would pick in a Super Stars For The Future XV.

(I have not named players who have already received test caps. This excludes 20 year-olds Liam Gill and Johan Gossen, and 21 year-olds Michael Hooper, Sam Cane, Brodie Retallick, Marcell Coetzee and Beauden Barrett.)

The Back Three

15. Charles Piutau (Blues)

An exciting, big fullback who can run like the wind, explode into opposition defences and use the ball. At the end of Round 5 of Super Rugby this year he was leading the competition in tackle busts and was equal second in line-breaks.

In 2010, the year after leaving school (Jonah Lomu’s old school, Wesley College), he appeared for Tonga in the IRB Junior World Championships [JWC], and for Auckland in the ITM Cup . In 2011 he represented New Zealand [NZ] in the JWC, and was chosen by Gordon Tietjens for the NZ Sevens team – as well as playing for Auckland again, when available.

In 2012 he was was still with the NZ Sevens for part of the year, but Blues fans got to see him when he started for their team at the end of the Super Rugby season. Afterwards he played brilliantly for Auckland in the ITM Cup, especially in the semi-final against Wellington, and was being talked about as a bolter for the All Black end of year tour [EOYT].

You can see the Sevens upbringing in Piutau and the effects of being developed under the guidance of legendary NZ Sevens coach, Gordon Tietjens. I don’t think that it will be too long before he is sitting on an All Black bench.

14. Sergeal Petersen (Southern Kings)

At 18 years old he is the youngest player starting in Super Rugby this year and went straight from school and the South African Schools team into professional rugby.

Petersen is from a family of athletes and represented South Africa at the 2011 World Youth Championships in the 100m and long jump events. But it’s not so much his sprinter’s speed that makes one notice him on the rugby field, nor his obvious skills: it’s more about appreciating how somebody so young can use his talents against experienced players with such success.

The local lad is already a favourite with the Port Elizabeth crowd and it shouldn’t be too long before the whole country is cheering him on.

11. Raymond Rhule (Cheetahs)

Aged 20, he was born in Ghana and his family moved to South Africa when he was six years old.

He was chosen in the 2012 Baby Bok JWC team and scored two brilliant tries against Argentina in the semi-final to get the home team into the final, which they won. Later in the year he played for the Cheetahs in the Currie Cup and ended up being the top try scorer.

On the strength of that he was taken on the Springboks EOYT as part of his development, but did not play in a test match.

Like the other winger, Petersen, he is a prodigious talent, has a great zest for the game and seems to be tuned into the music of rugby. He is fast but can side-step opponents also. He is not shy of making a tackle either.

Not a bad cocktail of talent.

The Midfield

13. Paul Jordaan (Sharks)

Quick off the mark and a slippery opponent, similar in style to All Black Conrad Smith. People who were at Suncorp for the 2012 play-off game will recall some of the skills he had when set up a try against the Reds, then followed up to score it.

Jordaan was a star at Blomfontein’s Grey College, and went straight into the Sharks Academy. In 2011 and 2012 Jordaan represented South Africa in Sevens and in the JWC. He was nominated as a winger in the 2012 JWC tournament, but was injured early in the semi-final and had to watch the Baby Boks win the final from the stands.

As well as outside centre and wing he is equally adept at playing inside centre, where he appeared for the Sharks last year, marking Sonny Bill Williams in the Super Rugby final. His speed, skills, comfort with ball in hand, deadly step and quick thinking, plus flyhalf experience in his school days, argues that he could wear any rugby jersey numbered 10 or above.

Look for Jordaan to be touring for the Boks in their 2013 EOYT.

12. Kyle Godwin (Western Force)

A revelation for most Aussie fans this year but those of us that saw him in his younger days would not have been surprised about his current form now that he is free from injury.

Godwin’s family arrived in Western Australia from Zimbabwe when he was eight years old. I saw him play for Combined States at the Australian Schools Rugby Union Championships [ASRUC] in 2009 and he was like a swan amongst the ducks in the team. He played for Australian Schools that year and went into the Western Force system in 2010.

Before the 2011 season started he appeared in a trial match for the Force A team against the Australian Barbarians in Sydney. Playing in a heat wave, he looked like the man of the match at flyhalf but he suffered a serious shoulder injury and was not seen for the rest of the year.

In 2012 he was chosen in the Australian JWC team as its starting flyhalf. He also had an Extended Playing Squad [EPS] contract with the Force and came off the bench in three games.

At 20 years old Godwin is now a fully contracted Super Rugby player and has started for the Force in all games this year. He is playing in his best position, inside centre, and has had some commanding performances.  He can sniff out a gap and unlike a majority of backs he works hard at such things as getting off the ground and looking for things to do.

The Halves

10. Gareth Anscombe (Chiefs)

Plays fullback for the Chiefs but is chosen as flyhalf because that is the position where he started for the Blues on a regular basis last year.

He played in the ITM Cup for Auckland in 2010 straight out of school and was the top points scorer at the 2011 JWC when he represented NZ. But when Sir John Kirwan became the new coach at the Blues after the 2012 season he used a new broom.

Although any first five-eighths would have struggled behind such a poor pack, both Anscombe and Michael Hobbs, got de-listed.  Anscombe was steady rather than flashy but he was one of the more consistent Blues’ backs in 2012; and he kicked his goals.

Anscombe moved down State Highway One to Hamilton to back up Aaron Cruden as first five-eighth at the Chiefs, but he got to play fullback instead.

As a first-five he knew a bit about his natural protagonist in the 15 jersey, and but for a few positional lapses, has performed well as a custodian in 2013. From his first game, against the Highlanders, he showed that he has thrived under the mentoring of Chiefs’ coaches, Dave Rennie and Wayne Smith, and he is kicking his goals at 82%.

When he got the news that he was axed by the Blues he said that he wanted to stay in the country because he could learn more in NZ than anywhere else. But the intervention of Rennie, who was not really looking for another first-five, may have stopped the youngster from going offshore.

Why? Anscombe has a Welsh passport and father Mark has contacts in Europe – he is Director of Coaching at Ulster.

9. TJ Perenara (Hurricanes)

Made a good comeback since he broke his ankle playing against the Reds last year in a non-competition match. He was having a top debut season but the injury to the Hurricanes Rookie of the Year ended his rugby in 2012, and any outside hope of an EOYT with the All Blacks.

Perenara is a precocious talent. In 2010 he played for NZ Schools and instead of doing his homework played for Wellington in the ITM Cup. In 2011 he represented NZ when they won the JWC.

He is full of rugby mischief and is deadly on the snipe near the goal-line, even when opponents know what he is going to do.