Eben Joubert at Otago
by Editor on 03/08/10 at 12:36 pm
I watched the game between Counties & Otago and while Otago lost out to a far better Counties side on the night (who had Tana Umage there for them), I was impressed and intrigued by a South African guy who played for Otago.
I did a bit of digging and it turns out that Joubert went there from Pretoria after not being able to get a contract anywhere in South Africa. He’s now thriving over in New Zealand though. Here’s an interesting article from last year in which he mentions how important player development is in NZ, and how it’s overlooked in SA.
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But his size counted against him in an area where bigger was seen as very much better."I was always on the fringes and they always seemed to go for bigger players. The 26-year-old said his game had improved markedly since he came to Dunedin in April last year from Pretoria, South Africa. That improvement, he said, could be put down to coaching, which was much different here from that in South Africa. "In New Zealand, there is a lot more emphasis on personal player development. In South Africa, if they think a player hasn’t got a specific skill, then they just go and get someone who they think is better," he said. "My game in New Zealand has improved since I got here. Back home it was usually the big guys taking the ball up and smaller guys like me being there in support. But here I’ve really learnt to be a link between forwards and backs and running better lines. Guys around here are really supportive." |
Very cool for him to make that switch and do well over there.
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