U20 touch rugby star to play in Youth World Cup

Tristan Hoffman, a Grade 12 pupil at Cambridge High School, has been selected for the South African Touch Association (Sata) Boys’ Under 20 Touch Rugby Team, who are set to compete at the Youth World Cup in Manchester, England, next year.

The Youth World Cup in Manchester will be hosted in about the middle of next year. In preparation for the Youth World Cup, the selected players have been instructed to train in their respective regions to minimise costs, instead of travelling every weekend across the provinces to train together.

However, Tristan said a training camp would be held in January for the selected players.

He said he and his family were excited over his selection and believed travelling overseas would be a great learning opportunity as well. “Even if it’s for sport, it helps you open your eyes and see the world differently,” Tristan said.

Tristan ’s touch rugby coach, Cyril Errington, who is affiliated to the Buffalo City Touch Association, is thrilled with Tristan’s selection, as well as Glenwin Cramford’s and Chloe Adams’ of Breidbach Secondary School’s selection for next year’s Youth World Cup. “We don’t have leagues running, so we don’t have tournaments to choose from. The players that will be going are players that played about five weeks ago in a tournament in Knysna and they will play U21 at senior nationals in Johannesburg.”

“I’m happy about the three that made it, I’m disappointed the other three didn’t, there were six of them. But there is still an opportunity for them if they can perform at the seniors and show that they are capable.”

Errington said the club faced tough financial challenges. ”We ’ve been to BCMM so many times. When we approached them there was no budget or sponsorship for any team, which is the problem.”

He said the club had also approached various companies for sponsorship but had not received any feedback. “The only company that did sponsor us with a little donation was Designer Lighting, with that money we bought new kits.”

Errington said the players had not had enough preparation because they had not participated in league games since Covid19 struck. “I am going to take them to Cape Town to have practise sessions with Western Province before SIPTs, just to get them a bit more experience playing in a league.”

Tristan Hoffman of Cambridge High School was selected to play in under 20 SATA rugby team  for the Youth World Cup in Manchester, England: Supplied

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