No stone is being left unturned to ensure the Junior Springboks hit the ground running when they face Argentina in their opening game of the U20 Rugby Championship in Gqeberha next week.
Two tough warm-up matches had helped the Boks to muscle up before three physically demanding clashes at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, coach Kevin Foote said.
He said outings against the Bulls U20 team and Cape Town club outfit Hamilton Rugby Club had helped improve the Junior Boks’ all-around physicality and were a major plus point for the team.
Foote emphasised the importance of training games in building continuity and consistency within the squad.
SA, New Zealand, Argentina and Australia will play a series of double-headers against one another on May 1, 6 and 11.
After the Gqeberha tournament, the Boks will compete at the World Rugby U20 Championship in Italy from June 29 to July 19.
SA are ranked seventh for the global event and were drawn in a strong Pool A along with the 2024 champions, England, as well as Australia and Scotland.
Foote wants to play as many games as possible leading up to the two international tournaments.
“The big value of these exercises is to make sure we play as many games as possible leading into the Rugby Championship and World Rugby U20s,” he said.
“We want to get that continuity and consistency and have the guys playing together and understanding how each other performs.
“That’s the main aim for us, making sure we get good game time.
“The Bulls were very physical, relying on the set piece and playing very direct rugby as expected, and in that regard it ticked a lot of boxes for us in terms of physicality and around the set piece.
“Things we’ll be working on include our discipline, which is a big-ticket item for us.
“We were poor in that department and weren’t great in the execution around our kicking game, line-outs and scrums.
“The big emphasis will be the squad’s rugby DNA and giving players more playing time together to ensure they have cohesion.
“It’s massively important for us to get these games under our belt and help us prepare.
“I thought there was a big improvement against Hamilton compared with our game against the Bulls U21s the week before in Stellenbosch, especially around our physicality.”
Foote highlighted the work assistant coach Lumumba Currie was doing with the forwards.
“Lumumba has been unbelievable and has kicked on from last year,” he said.
“You can see his detail and passion around the breakdown, and having some of the players from last year has made a big difference. For that, we are grateful.
“We have had nice hit-outs and given enough guys time to play and see their potential.
“At the same time, we’ve managed to broaden our squad depth, which will make it very challenging to select squads.
“The door is not closed to anyone, and we still have work to do, but for now we want to finalise our squad for the U20 Rugby Championship and are looking forward to playing against our southern hemisphere rivals.”
Tickets are R20 a person and will be available at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium ticket office or online from Webtickets.
Fixtures:
Thursday, May 1, 2pm: New Zealand vs Australia, 4.10pm: Junior Boks vs Argentina.
Tuesday, May 6, 2pm: New Zealand vs Argentina, 4.10pm: Junior Boks vs Australia.
Sunday, May 11, 2pm: Argentina vs Australia 4.10pm: Junior Boks vs New Zealand.
The Herald
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.