Jantjies now a Baby Bok
The Jantjies family have another Baby Bok – Altonio Jantjies following in the footsteps of Springbok brother Elton when he became a member of South Africa’s Under-20 team on Thursday.
Baby Boks coach Dawie Theron named his strongest available team for the first of three matches against Argentina U20 at the Stellenbosch Academy of Sports (Markotter) field on Saturday.
The team will be captained by Blue Bulls and Tuks flank Wiaan Liebenberg and include Jantjies, better known as Tony, in the No.10 jersey.
The young South Africans are currently together for a two-week training camp, which include two internationals against the Argentinian Pumitas, plus a midweek clash comprising mostly Under-19 players.
The training camp is in preparation for the IRB Junior World Championship 2012, to be held in South Africa from June 4 to 22 in Cape Town.
The remaining matches against Argentina are scheduled for next Tuesday and the following Saturday.
The Pumitas will name their team on Friday.
Theron, in his second season in charge of the SA U20 side, said he was looking forward to a good start.
“We are looking forward to gain some momentum because the Junior World Championship is not too far off,” Theron said.
“The players are getting along nicely and we are building on our approach and systems which we put in place since the first training group got together in December,” he added.
The coach added he was looking forward to see players in action who were not previously involved in the training group.
“Several players such as Dean Hammond [left wing], Dillyn Leyds [fullback] and Braam Steyn [flyhalf] are new additions to the squad and we now have the ideal opportunity to test them against quality international opposition. Then there are also players such as Ruan Venter [lock] who have recovered from injury and in need of some game time.
“Tshotsho Mbovane [wing] has meanwhile recovered from knee injury and while he is currently training with us, he is not yet fully fit and was therefore not considered for selection.
“This is an extremely important training camp for us,” explained Theron.
“We selected a number of Under-19 players with the specific view to expose them to our team culture so that they can familiarise themselves with our structures. Argentina is a good team and will test us in every department.”
South African Under-20: 15 Marius Schmidt, 14 JJ de Klerk, 13 Patrick Howard, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Dean Hammond, 10 Tony Jantjies, 9 Kevin Luiters, 8 Fabian Booysen, 7 Wiaan Liebenberg (captain), 6 Khaya Majola, 5 Pieter Steph du Toit, 4 Ruan Venter, 3 Nicolas van Dyk, 2 Mark Pretorius, 1 Allan Dell.
Replacements: 16 Marzuq Maarman, 17 Franco Marais, 18 Henkus van Dyk, 19 Ettiene Oosthuisen, 20 Braam Steyn, 21 Abrie Griesel, 22 Kobus van Wyk, 23 Dillyn Leyds.
Date: Saturday, April 14
Venue: Markotter field, Stellenbosch
Kick-off: 13.45 (11.45 GMT)
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
Assistant referees: François Groenewald (South Africa), Marc van Zyl (South Africa)
