Prior to the start of the ongoing World Rugby U20 Championship in Manchester, Junior Springbok coach Dawie Theron glowingly described his 28-man squad as the most skilful unit he had ever selected in his six years at the helm of the junior national team. The 49-year-old, who will coach in Japan from next month, challenged convention this year by opting for mobile players that could come through the window rather than physically imposing players that could bash down the door.In theory, picking more mobile players seemed like the answer as they should be able to defend better and chase kicks more effectively.However, in practice, that has proved to be anything but the case in this campaign.Though the likes of Manie Libbok and Curwin Bosch have shone on attack, and captain Jeremy Ward has worked tirelessly for the team cause, the Junior Springboks' pronounced area of weakness has been on defence.Most notably, during their semi-final defeat to England, they ended up being incredibly tight on defence, their wing stayed back and their scrumhalf was looking to cover a chip kick that was never going to come.It was honestly as bad as it could get, and resulted in England not having to work hard in order to create space. The match must have felt more like a training exercise for the home side because, without any deception, they created space.I'd suggest that had England kept their foot on the pedal South Africa could easily have experienced a 60-point drubbing.Defence is something that South African sides have always prided themselves on and, from my experience, it's an area of the game that requires specialised coaching. The Junior Boks' defence was my responsibility for two years and thereafter brilliant defence coach Jacques Nienaber assisted the junior national side.Nienaber, who is moving to Munster, was not involved this term and his absence has proved telling because the young South Africans have displayed an unbelievably leaky defence.A lack of organisation on defence ultimately comes down to coaching, and whoever is responsible for it needs to be held accountable. You cannot throw a novice in at the deep end because defence is too complex.The fact that the defeat to England was so comprehensive represents something of a crisis for South African rugby at large.Make no mistake, our schoolboy rugby is amazingly strong within a world context. All the same, our feeder systems to the senior national setup have to be called into question.It's of concern that our development teams are not producing definitive performances. As a case in point, the SA A side lost a two-Test series against an average England Saxons lineup.In contrast to South African rugby, English rugby is getting stronger and stronger, and their academy system is a highly effective outlet.In England, they don't boast as many good schools players as we do, but the trick is that they discover promising players earlier and upskill them within their academies. As a consequence their core skills - kicking, passing, breakdown and collision work - are better than ours.Individually, the South Africans haven't played badly at the U-20 World Championship.However, it's a considerable worry that our skills have been found wanting...