In some ways Oxfordshire is the perfect setting for the International Rugby Board (IRB) Under-21 World Cup. The historic grounds the boys have been privileged enough to play on might not have the biggest stadiums with the best facilities in the world, but they ooze history.
And some of the players are starting out on a path that will see them create rugby history in the next decade. There’s a nice symmetry to it.
At Iffley Road, the venue for South Africa’s opening triumph over Ireland two weeks ago, the sense of history was palpable.
After all, it is the place where one of the greatest athletic achievements of the 20th century took place.
On the field adjacent to the rugby pitch (which, incidentally, is home to the Oxford University team) a young medical student by the name of Roger Bannister broke the four-minute-mile barrier 49 years ago.
Both Henley Rugby Club — a beautiful setting within spitting distance of the River Thames, where the famous Henley Regatta takes place next week — and Newbury have played host to games involving South Africa. Each is steeped in history and are among the most respected clubs in the South of England.
Current England coach Clive Woodward started his coaching career at Henley and the members remember him as a difficult commander who demanded perfection.
He was always hounding the committee for better players and a more professional approach to the game.
Sadly, Woodward was not in charge of marketing and promoting the 2003 Under-21 World Cup because, to put it politely, it has been a shambles.
No doubt the infamous “Old Farts” at Twickenham couldn’t be bothered to promote arguably the best annual rugby tournament anywhere in the world.
The IRB blame the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and vice versa.
English papers carried almost no news of the event and the snippets they found space for only featured England’s mediocre results.
A combined 20 Super 12 players from the three southern hemisphere giants was not enough to pique their interest in the slightest.
This week’s semifinals, that saw New Zealand end South Africa’s hopes of defending their title (with a 38-16 win) and Australia’s 48-25 dismantling of Argentina, were attended by a handful of spectators — not because there wasn’t any interest in the contest but because no one knew about it.
It hasn’t helped that the first two weeks of the tournament coincided with the senior England team’s epic tour to New Zealand and Australia, the culmination of the David Beckham transfer saga and the endless previews of Wimbledon that have grabbed all the column inches.
The people at Henley, Newbury and Iffley Road have been gracious hosts and have done themselves proud in the actual running of the tournament on match days when they have been in charge.
These hardy souls are rugby people through and through who have given of their valuable time and effort and spread the news about the tournament by word of mouth, have saved it from being an absolute embarrassment for the RFU and, by extension, the IRB.
It is difficult to comprehend that these organisations respectively preside over the best Test team in the world and the third-biggest sporting event on the planet.
It has been an injustice to some of the great future talents of the game that they have been given such short shrift, but at least the ignominy of playing to empty stadiums has been avoided through the efforts of people at Henley, Newbury and Iffley Road.
Their reward is that they have been privileged to see some of the finest talent in the rugby universe, which could include rugby’s equivalent of Bannister among them.
While Bannister’s milestone will never be forgotten, many people at Iffley Road a fortnight ago could be telling their children one day that they were there the day Schalk Burger played.
Perhaps that is unfair pressure on young Schalk, son of former Springbok lock Schalk Burger Snr, but his performance was immense.
His long, blond hair reminds you of the great French flank and skipper Jean-Pierre Rives, but Burger is bigger and stronger, fitter and faster and he is still only 20. He covered acres of ground, scored a try and made some earth-shattering tackles that reverberated across the quad of the nearby St Hilda’s College.
English onlookers shook their heads in awe knowing, just as others must have when Bannister first ran here, that this was something special.
Burger still doesn’t even know if he wants to play rugby full time either. He is a multi-talented sportsman, having played cricket for the Boland under-19s and scored a century for his high school first team at the age of 14. If that were not enough, he is a former South African mountain biking champion at under-15 level.
Oh, and he did a 14-bleep test in pre-tournament fitness testing, rumoured to be the best ever by a South African rugby player. Not bad for a guy of 108kg and 1,93m. But he is one of a handful of players at this tournament who are likely to go on to be revered at senior Test level in years to come.
Store away names such as Gregory Lamboley and Yannick Nyanga, two excellent French loose forwards. Include the name Marcel Garvey, an English wing with pace and power as well as feet like Jason Robinson.
New Zealand fullback Ben Atiga looks the real deal and centre Sam Tuitupou, who we all know from the Super 12, has been outstanding. Welsh flyhalf Nicky Robinson has a silky left boot and Australian flyhalf and skipper Lachlan MacKay could have a big future.
But when a handful of future greats run onto the beautifully manicured Kassam stadium pitch on Sunday, you will have more chance of knowing about it than someone living at Christ Church College.