Home stretch for Baby Boks
South African Under-20 coach Dawie Theron has named an extended training squad for a camp in April to be followed by matches against Argentina in preparation for the Junior World Championships in June.
The camp will be held in Cape Town from 10 to 23 April, with the friendly internationals against Argentina scheduled for 14 and 21 April in Stellenbosch, with an additional midweek fixture planned to give some U19 players exposure on the international stage.
The young Argentineans arrive in South Africa on Monday, 9 April. Two matches are scheduled for the Markotter Stadium (14 and 17 April), while the last fixture will be played at the Danie Craven Stadium on 21 April.
These clashes will form the final phase of preparation before the IRB Junior World Championship which South Africa is hosting at two venues in the Western Cape – the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch and the University of the Western Cape in Bellville from 4 to 22 June.
Theron commented: “We started in December last year with a group of 88 players at trials held in Kimberley, after that we had a camp with a smaller group of players and then in January we had another camp which has brought us to today where we have got a group of players to play against Argentina.
“If you look at the team this is definitely the strongest available team at the moment, we are testing the depth and giving some of the guys a second chance and I think we are very close.
“We know about 90% of who we want to play because as I said all the work has been done, but there are no guarantees in rugby there can be injuries or something can go wrong so these guys are definitely the strongest and we are putting in some work for next year already to get the young guys in, get them used to the international arena and do some work for future value.
“We have also got a couple of players that we would have liked to select for these friendlies against Argentina, but because of either injury or their participation in Super Rugby they are unavailable,” he added.
The players unavailable for the camp but who will still be considered for selection at the Junior World Championships are Steven Kitshoff, Paul Jordaan, Johan Goosen, William Small Smith, Paul Willemse, Ruan Botha and Ettiene Oosthuizen.
SA U20 training squad: Abrie Griesel, Hendrik van Wyk, Jan Serfontein, Jason Thomas, Marzuq Maarman, Jaco Visagie, Rudi van Rooyen, Shaun Adendorf, Tony Jantjies, Travis Ismail, Wian Liebenberg, Jacques du Plessis, Andrew Beerwinkel, Leneve Dames, Marvin Orrie, Neethling Fouche, Ruwellyn Isbell, Kevin Luiters, JJ de Klerk, Hlanhla Hlungwane, Fabian Booysen, Marais Schmidt, Mark Pretorius, Ruan Venter, Vian van der Watt, Harold Vorster, Allan Dell, Franco Marais, Braam Steyn, Khaya Majola, Nicolaas van Dyk, Pieter Steph du Toit, Cobus Nel, Dean Hammond, Dillyn Leyds, Lungelo Chonco, Patrick Howard, Rayn Smid, Kobus van Wyk, Stephan Coetzee, Tshotsho Mbovane, John Ben Kotze.
