{"id":43617,"date":"2024-04-30T17:02:41","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T15:02:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=43617"},"modified":"2024-04-30T17:02:41","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T15:02:41","slug":"porthen-to-lead-junior-boks-in-historic-u20-rugby-championship-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=43617","title":{"rendered":"Porthen to lead Junior Boks in historic U20 Rugby Championship match"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo: Gallo Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Zachary Porthen<\/strong> (prop) will lead the Junior Springboks<\/strong> against New Zealand<\/strong> on Thursday, in the opening round of the inaugural Under-20 Rugby Championship<\/strong> at the Sunshine Coast Stadium<\/strong> in Bokarina, Queensland, Australia.<\/p>\n

The former SA Schools’ captain is one of five players in the South African match-day squad who featured in last year’s World Rugby U20 Championship<\/strong> in Cape Town, where the Junior Boks finished third.<\/p>\n

The other returning SA u20s from last year, who will start against New Zealand, are Asad Moos<\/strong> (scrumhalf), Jurenzo Julius<\/strong> (centre) and Litelihle Bester<\/strong> (wing). JF van Heerden<\/strong> (lock) was named among the replacements and is set to make an impact off the bench.<\/p>\n

Porthen will anchor the front row alongside Ruan Swart<\/strong> (prop) and Juan Smal<\/strong> (hooker), while Thomas Dyer<\/strong> and Adam de Waal<\/strong> are the starting locks. The loose trio consists of flankers Sibabalwe Mahashe<\/strong> and Bathobele Hlekani<\/strong>, with Tiaan Jacobs<\/strong> at No 8.<\/p>\n

In the backline, Moos, at scrumhalf, will partner with flyhalf Tylor Sefoor<\/strong>. Bruce Sherwood<\/strong> and Julius will patrol the midfield, Bester and Joel Leotlela<\/strong> are the speedsters on the wing, and Michail Damon<\/strong> completes the backline, at fullback.<\/p>\n

Junior Bok coach Bafana Nhleko<\/strong> said his group had a good week of training in the build-up to the historic Sanzaar<\/strong> tournament.<\/p>\n

“The medical and strength and conditioning staff did a sterling job to ensure our group settled in as quickly as possible after our long-haul flight from South Africa, and our preparations went well this week,” said Nhleko. “The players are now eager to put in a good effort on the field against a top-quality opponent.”<\/p>\n

The rivalry and tradition between South Africa and New Zealand also mean a lot of pride is at stake in the opening-round encounter. Nhleko said his players will have to be aware of the Kiwi threats all over the field.<\/p>\n

“We all know about the tremendous rivalry, and the all-round threat of New Zealand is a well-known fact,” said Nhleko.<\/p>\n

“The physical battle will be huge between two teams that pride themselves on physicality. The main message has been to focus on ourselves and to drive our behaviours.<\/p>\n

“So, as much as there is a lot at stake in this match and we are chasing a good performance, as a group, we are also eager to continue to learn and use this tournament as a great opportunity to further develop as a team.”<\/p>\n

Hosts’ Australia and Argentina will clash in the other game of the opening-round double header.<\/p>\n

The new tournament comprises a round-robin format, with all four teams playing play each other once. The top team after the three-round, six-match tournament will be declared the winner of the first U20 Rugby Championship.<\/p>\n

The clash is scheduled to kick off at 09:00 (SA time, 17:00 in Australia) and will be broadcast live on SuperSport<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Junior Springbok team to face New Zealand<\/strong><\/p>\n

15 Michail Damon, 14 Joel Leotlela, 13 Jurenzo Julius (vice-captain), 12 Bruce Sherwood, 11 Litelihle Bester, 10 Tylor Sefoor, 9 Asad Moos, 8 Tiaan Jacobs, 7 Bathobele Hlekani, 6 Sibabalwe Mahashe, 5 Adam de Waal, 4 Thomas Dyer, 3 Zachary Porthen (captain), 2 Juan Smal, 1 Ruan Swart.<\/p>\n

Replacements: 16 Ethan Bester, 17 Mbasa Maqubela, 18 Reno Hirst, 19 JF van Heerden (vice-captain), 20 Thabang Mphafi, 21 Ezekiel Ngobeni, 22 Thurlon Williams, 23 Joshua Boulle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zachary Porthen (prop) will lead the Junior Springboks against New Zealand on Thursday, in the opening round of the inaugural Under-20 Rugby Championship at the Sunshine Coast Stadium in Bokarina, Queensland, Australia. The former SA Schools’ captain is one of five players in the South African match-day squad who featured in last year’s World Rugby […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":43621,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43617\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}