Baby Boks focus on strong Scots
The SA Under-20 team arrived in the picturesque Italian city of Venice on Sunday and got straight to work as they prepare for their opening IRB Junior World Championship Pool C game on Friday against Scotland.
The Baby Boks will be aiming for an overall aimprovement in the competition after finishing third in their last three tournaments in Argentina (2010), Japan (2009) and Wales (2008).
“Lots of effort has gone in over the last few months to ensure that our players received the best preparations and now it’s up to the guys to show the world why rugby is so strong in our country,” U20 coach Dawie Theron said.
“I am still happy with the way the players have adapted to conditions here in Italy after our 23 hour journey. They looked sharp at the first training session this morning.
“Our focus for the week is Scotland. They’ve played in the Six Nations and are not going to be easy. They’ve done very well at the line-outs and are also a very consistent team in how they execute their set play.
“They’ll also be hoping to take us on up front, and it’s going to be exciting to see how we match up to that challenge, but ultimately our build up for this week is about how clinical we are in our preparation.
“We’ve got to be accurate in our execution during training, and hope that that kind of momentum will carry through to our first match which is against Scotland.
“It’s going to be about building momentum for the next three weeks here in Italy. We’ve got a chance of setting that momentum on Friday, so all effort for now is directed that way.”
