Baby Boks win big
South Africa's Under-20 team, preparing for the Junior World Championship, beat their Argentinean counterparts 78-31 in Saldanha on Friday.
The encounter was the first of three matches as the two teams fine-tune their preparations for the Junior World Championship 2014, to be held during June in New Zealand.
South Africa Under-20 led 38-14 at half-time.
Despite choosing to play against a stiff breeze in the first half, the Baby Boks quickly built up an impressive 31-0 lead inside 19 minutes. However, the visitors gradually found their rhythm and managed to score four tries, two apiece either side of half-time to bring the score to 45-26 at one stage.
Afterwards, Baby Boks' coach Dawie Theron attributed the good start to the time his squad has spent together at their training camp.
He said: “We tried a new approach this year, to keep the players a bit longer during our training camp, and although it is early days you could clearly see the result."
The SA Under-20 coach mentioned he was satisfied that his team managed to keep their momentum and ability to stick to their game plan. However, he warned Argentina will be a lot better prepared for the second encounter on Tuesday in Stellenbosch.
“They are a good side with a lot of potential and I expect them to come very hard at us in Stellenbosch.”
Theron was not too pleased with the tries his team conceded, and attributed it to some lapses of concentration either side of half-time. Theron confirmed he will have several players available for Tuesday who did duty in this weekend’s Vodacom Cup quarterfinals.
Theron said: “Overall, the result was very satisfying, but it’s very early days and we will work hard during our two training sessions on Sunday."
The next match is Tuesday at 15.00 at Paul Roos in Stellenbosch and the final encounter takes place next Saturday at City Park in Crawford, Cape Town.
Scorers:
For South Africa Under-20:
Tries: Du Plessis 2, Louw 2, Els 2, Du Preez 2, Van der Merwe 2, Van der Walt, Petersen.
Cons: Van der Walt 9
For Argentina Under-20:
Tries: Ortega, Giménez, Arregui 2, Borelli
Cons: Borrelli 3
Teams
South Africa Under-20: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 12 Daniel du Plessis, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Jaco van der Walt, 9 Zee Mkhabela, 8 Aidon Davis, 7 Jean Luc du Preez, 6 Ramone Samuels, 5 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 4 JD Schickerling, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Corniel Els, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: From the remaining training squad members.
Argentina Under-20: 15 Emiliano Bofelli, 14 Germán Schulz, 13 Santiago Alvarez Fourcade, 12 Tomas Granella, 11 Federico, Gimenez,10 Ignacio Albornoz, 9 Juan Bernardini, 8 Santiago Portillo, 7 Lautaro Bavaro, 6 José Deheza, 5 Ignacio Larrague, 4 Pedro Ortega, 3 Enrique Pieretto, 2 Juan Ignacio Sánchez, 1 Felipe Arregui,
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Calles, 17 Ariel Del Cerro, 18 Facundo Gigena, 19 Vittorio Rosti, 20 Tomás Lezana, 21 Lautaro Bazán Vélez, 22 Domingo Miotti, 23 Bautista Ezcurra.
Referee: Quinton Immelman
