Teething problems over, time for Super teams to step up to mark

[Flamethrower]

I believe the Single Male Player figure to be the most relevant when comparing Test Nations rather than Total Males:

That's right forget about the married players

[Burgs]

Jeez, you fellas are slipping, that only took an hour and twenty to pick up

[zimeric]

The SA numbers are spot on.. remember that Rugby is played by every school boy in SA from year 3 UP. Soccer is getting a show in but its mostly Rugby &/or Hockey as far as i know.
Their main problem is retaining the youngsters interest after they leave school. Money is spread thin on the ground when it comes to post school development and thats SA's biggest failing. if they had even half the funding made available to them that SA or NZ give their teams, they would be perrenially at the top of the pile.

[beige]

Player numbers is an inaccurate guide to success anyway - Japan has over 120,000 players (4th in the world I think) but their domestic structure is such a mess that they never get anywhere.

Btw, Zimeric - from what I've seen, soccer is easily the biggest sport in South Africa. Does that mean it primarily exists outside the schools?

[zimeric]

Player numbers is an inaccurate guide to success anyway - Japan has over 120,000 players (4th in the world I think) but their domestic structure is such a mess that they never get anywhere.

Btw, Zimeric - from what I've seen, soccer is easily the biggest sport in South Africa. Does that mean it primarily exists outside the schools?

Precisely Beige! Although many of the lower class schools (black schools) do focus more on soccer most of them have rugby as their No2 sport.