Markus Muller, the schoolboy sensation from Paarl Gimnasium, needs backing more than he needs protection from the hype.
And that is exactly the endorsement he got from Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus earlier this week with inclusion in the Springboks’ alignment camp in Cape Town next week.
The 18-year-old signed with the Stormers in 2026 and has already trained with the senior squad. He played for the SA Under-20s against Georgia last weekend.
Muller is an exceptional talent, and age has never been a consideration for talents of his ilk. They transition straight onto the biggest stages.
Canan Moodie made his Springboks Test debut as a 19-year-old winger against Australia in Sydney in 2022. He was superb. A year later he was a World Cup winner.
Frans Steyn made his Test debut against Ireland in 2006, also as a 19-year-old winger, and was named South Africa’s Player of the Match. A year later he was a World Cup winner.
Muller has the potential and pedigree to write a similar script, given the next World Cup is in 2027 in Australia.
I was so surprised in the week, and I told him, ‘Good work’. You don’t expect someone coming out of school to have that sort of technical maturity. It is really impressive
— Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
Erasmus has never referenced age as a negative in his selections. He picked hooker Schalk Brits, who was 38, for World Cup duty in 2019 and entrusted Deon Fourie, then 37, with a multi-faceted role at the 2023 World Cup. Brits and Fourie are World Cup winners.
Some of rugby’s iconic backs were playing Test rugby in their teens. John Kirwan, Jeff Wilson and Jonah Lomu were All Blacks wingers at 19. James O’Connor played wing for the Wallabies as an 18-year-old and the midfield duo of Tim Horan and Jason Little were Wallabies as 19-year-olds.
Muller, comfortable wearing No 12 and No 13, scored more than 50 tries in his grade 11 and matric years for Paarl Gim, Western Province and SA Schools.
He also kicked many points, and in 2025 he scored 43 points in one match.
He is a back, who in his final school year relished joining the forwards in a lineout maul as much as he did running a try-scoring support line as a midfield back.
His try-scoring headlined most of his school matches, but his try assists were as impressive. He’s not a one-trick pony who dominated schools rugby because of superior size. Muller is a youngster with an understanding of the nuances of the sport, which is what impressed Stormers and Springboks No 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
“He’s good,” said Feinberg-Mngomezulu. “I remember coming up and learning how to play at 12 — things like sliding on defence and reading and not over-reading plays. He’s already nailed down some of that stuff.
“I was so surprised in the week, and I told him, ‘Good work’. You don’t expect someone coming out of school to have that sort of technical maturity. It is really impressive.”
Erasmus has recognised Muller’s on-field quality, but culture is the essence of Erasmus’s World Cup-winning Springboks — and culturally, Muller is a perfect fit for Erasmus’s Boks.
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