Puma trial-run for Baby Boks
The South Africa Under-20 squad will be able to test their readiness for this year's Junior World Championship (JWC) when they tackle their Argentinean counterparts in three international friendly matches in the Western Cape.
The first clash takes place on Friday, May 2, at the Saldanha Bay Rugby Club on the West Coast.
Next Tuesday (May 6) the two sided will meet again at the Paul Roos Markötter Stadium in Stellenbosch and the final clash is scheduled for the following Saturday (May 10) at City Park in Cape Town.
Dawie Theron, coach of the Baby Boks, said the matches will give him the ideal opportunity to test the depth of the squad.
In addition to that, the squad will also be able to simulate their JWC logistics plan for their three pools matches in New Zealand, in similar tournament-like circumstances.
"We have scheduled the three matches in exactly the same timeframes as our JWC pool matches [Scotland on June 2, New Zealand on June 6 and Samoa on June 10]," Theron said.
"The reasoning behind that is so that we can simulate our logistics, training and recovery schedule exactly along the timeframes of our JWC schedule," the Baby Bok mentor added.
The SA Under-20 coach views the annual series against the South Americans as a crucial part of the squad's overall preparation.
"This series against Argentina will give us the ideal opportunity to test the strength, depth and conditioning of the squad. We will therefore strive to give playing time to as many players as possible during the series," said Theron.
He added: "For instance, for our next match Tuesday in Stellenbosch, we will have a completely different starting line-up. That means that after the second match we would have already started with 30 players."
According to Theron, the starting line-up for Tuesday will include several players who are involved in this weekend's Vodacom Cup quarterfinal matches.
The SA U20 coach also revealed he will target specifics areas of his game plan during the upcoming series.
"These matches gives us the ideal opportunity to test the boys' understanding of our game plan and how well they execute it, against what is no doubt very good opponents.
"Argentina is a side that regularly features in the top four or five at the Junior World Championship, so we will be up against quality opposition.
"I am particularly interested to see how our players execute their kicking game and what they are capable of doing on a defence. Our set pieces will also come under scrutiny," said Theron.
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.
The SA U20 versus Argentina U20 fixture list:
Friday, May 2
Venue: Saldanha Bay Rugby Club
Kick-off: 16.00 (14.00 GMT; 11.00 Argentina time)
Tuesday, May 6
Venue: Paul Roos Markötter Stadium, Stellenbosch
Kick-off: 15.00 (13.00 GMT; 10.00 Argentina time)
Saturday, May 10
Venue: City Park, Cape Town
Kick-off: 16.00 (14.00 GMT; 11.00 Argentina time)
