Junior tournament locked in for SA

NEWS: Two South African Under-18 teams and their age-group counterparts from England, France, Ireland and Georgia will face off in Cape Town and Paarl next month.

The SA Under-18 team and the next-best ‘A’ side, as well as the four visitors from Europe, will play in a three-round competition on August 12, 16 and 20.

Similar to past editions, the matches will be hosted at school venues, with Stellenberg High School in Cape Town’s northern suburbs, as well as Paarl Gimnasium and Paarl Boys High School hosting the U18 teams on triple-header match days.

Dave Wessels, General Manager of High Performance at the South African Rugby Union, described the forthcoming U18 series as a key component in the development of the country’s top age-group players.

“The international coaches I spoke to during the recent World Rugby U20 Championship all described the importance of coming over here to test their young players in a proper international competition,” said Wessels.

“The annual U18 series forms an integral part of our elite player development pipeline and is very important in the development and growth of our own young players.

“Apart from rewarding the current group of U18 players with an incredible opportunity, it can be considered as the starting point for the new identification cycle of our next group of Junior Springboks and franchise players.

“The competition also gives an opportunity to a wide range of coaches and staff who get the opportunity to test themselves at a higher level.

“These staff have all made significant contributions to our EPD (Elite Player Development) programme through their unions, schools and clubs, and will be supported by experienced SA Rugby staff.”

The squads and management teams for the two SA U18 sides will be announced in due course.

U18 International Series fixtures:

Monday, 12 August (Stellenberg HS)
11.30: South Africa ‘A’ v Georgia
13.30: England v Ireland
15.30: South Africa v France

Friday, 16 August (Paarl Gimnasium)
11.30: England v France
13.30: Georgia v South Africa ‘A’
15.30: South Africa v Ireland

Tuesday, 20 August (Paarl Boys High)
11.30: Ireland v South Africa ‘A’
13.30: South Africa v England
15.30: France v Georgia