Wholesale changes for Baby Boks
South African Under-20 coach Dawie Theron has made nine changes to the Baby Boks team to take on Ireland in their second Pool C match at the IRB Junior World Championship in Treviso, Italy on Tuesday.
The Baby Boks started their campaign on a winning note when they defeated Scotland 33-0 in their opening match in Padova on Friday.
“We’ve made quite a number of changes to our starting line-up for this match, but it’s going to be vital that teams have 22 players fresh and ready for a further four matches,” said Theron.
“It’s going to be important to see how this team selected for the Ireland game adapts to the pressures of the World Championship.”
Theron said it would also give the players who did not play against Scotland a chance to put their hands up for selection for the remaining matches.
“Scotland challenged us up front, and we were happy that we managed to keep them scoreless,” he said.
“Ireland, though, will pose a completely different threat. They are strong with the ball in hand, and were in the game against England right until the end.
“But our focus this week is picking up from where we left off against Scotland. We want to simplify our structure of play and ensure that some of our strengths are properly utilised against Ireland.”
Theron selected a new front row which will see props Stephan Kotze and John Roy Jenkinson join hooker Micheal van Vuuren in the scrum.
Golden Lions lock Ruan Venter will team up with Eben Etzebeth, while captain Arno Botha will lead a new loose-forward trio which includes fellow Varsity Cup stars Cornell du Preez and Nizaam Carr.
Scrumhalf Lohan Jacobs will earn his fourth SA U20 cap when the Baby Boks face Ireland. The Blue Bulls No.9 comes into the starting line-up in the place of Pieter Rademan who shifts to the bench with centre Paul Jordaan, who makes way for Bradley Moolman.
The other change in the starting team is at wing where Courtnall Skosan earns his first cap in place of Springbok Sevens talent Tshotsho Mbovane.
“It’s going to be tight as Ireland are always passionate, and they’ll have the crowd behind them as they did on Friday against England,” said Theron.
“But for us, it’s going to be about ticking our own boxes, the first of which is four points on Tuesday.”
South Africa Under-20: 15 Ulrich Beyers, 14 Courtnall Skosan, 13 Bradley Moolman, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Wandile Mjekevu, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Lohan Jacobs, 8 Arno Botha (captain), 7 Cornell du Preez, 6 Nizaam Carr, 5 Eben Etzebeth, 4 Ruan Venter, 3 John Roy Jenkinson, 2 Micheal van Vuuren, 1 Stephan Kotze.
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Nic Schonert, 18 Jean Cook, 19 Siyamthanda Kolisi, 20 Pieter Rademan, 21 John Welthagen, 22 Paul Jordaan.
Date: Tuesday, June 14
Venue: Stadio Comunale di Monigo, Treviso
Kick-off: 18.10 GMT
Referee: Jonathon White (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Carlo Damasco (Italy), Marius Mitrea (Italy)
SAPA
