Super stars to play for Baby Boks
Three players with Super 14 experience and two who feature in the Springbok Sevens team were included in the South African U20 squad that will play Tonga in their opening Pool B clash of the IRB Junior World Championship in Parana on Saturday.
Patrick Lambie (Sharks) will earn his first start for the Baby Boks at fullback, while wing Wandile Mjekevu and centre Jaco Taute (Lions) have both been selected in the starting line-up. They will be joined by the talented Bok Sevens flyer Sampie Mastriet (wing).
Branco du Preez, who also represented the SA Sevens side during the 2009/2010 IRB Sevens World Series tournaments in Hong Kong, Las Vegas and Adelaide was selected on the bench.
“I am looking forward to see how the guys perform as this will be the first time that we will be fielding our strongest side,” said SA Under-20 coach Eric Sauls.
“But in saying that I also have to admit that any player in our 26-man squad is good enough to earn a start. There’s a healthy vibe within this squad and the players are hungry to play their first match here at the IRB World Champs.
“We’ve got three tough Pool games within the next two weeks, so it’s important to start the tournament off with a solid performance against Tonga.
“We know what we are p against in terms of our preparation for Tonga. They’re a very physical side and we’ll have to stand up to that challenge. They’ve got some big guys all over the park.
“However I am sure that Tonga will be saying the same thing about us, so in the end it’s going to be the side that makes the least mistakes that will get the positive result.”
Blue Bulls U19 No.8 CJ Stander, who is one of three players selected in the starting line-up who competed in the 2009 IRB Junior World Championship, will captain the side.
Mastriet and Kene Okafor (lock) are the other players who represented the Baby Boks at last year’s tournament in Japan.
Golden Lions U19 flyhalf Elton Jantjies, Louis Schreuder (Western Province), Fanie van der Walt and Marcel van der Merwe (Free State Cheetahs) who competed in this year’s Vodacom Cup were also named in the starting line-up.
South Africa: 15 Patrick Lambie, 14 Sampie Mastriet, 13 Jaco Taute, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Wandile Mjekevu, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 CJ Stander (captain), 7 Fanie van der Walt, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 4 Kene Okafor, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Monde Hadebe, 1 Brummer Badenhorst.
Replacements: 16 Francois du Toit, 17 Ruan Dreyer, 18 Peet Marais, 19 Mlungisi Bali, 20 Branco du Preez, 21 Adri Jacobs, 22 Nico Scheepers.
Date: Saturday, June 5
Venue: Club Atletico Estudiantes, Paraná
Kick-off: 14.00 (17.00 GMT, 19.00 SA time)
Referee: Peter Allan (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Federico Anselmi (Argentina), Luis Caviglia (Uruguay)
