{"id":51411,"date":"2024-06-28T20:13:27","date_gmt":"2024-06-28T18:13:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=51411"},"modified":"2024-06-28T20:13:27","modified_gmt":"2024-06-28T18:13:27","slug":"junior-boks-name-team-to-face-fiji-in-world-u20s-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=51411","title":{"rendered":"Junior Boks name team to face Fiji in World u20s opener"},"content":{"rendered":"
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STELLENBOSCH, SOUTH AFRICA – JUNE 13: Bathobele Hlekani during the Junior Springboks training session at SAS Rugby Institute on June 13, 2024 in Stellenbosch, South Africa. (Photo by Ashley Vlotman\/Gallo Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Junior Springboks have included three uncapped players, namely hooker Luca Bakkes, flyhalf Liam Koen and outside back Likhona Finca, in their match day squad for their World Rugby<\/span> Under-20 opening match against Fiji at the Cape Town Stadium on Sa<\/span>turday. The encounter kicks off at 19h00 and will be broadcast live on SuperSport.<\/p>\n

Bakkes will make his run-on debut and packs down in the front row between props Ruan Swart and Zachary Porthen, the Junior Bok captain, while Finca is set to make his debut off the bench should he be sent on as an outside back replacement. Koen will wear the No. 10 jersey.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, the rest of the Junior Boks have a settled look with the rest of the starting line-up and replacement bench consisting of players who participated in the recent SA<\/span>NZAAR Under-20 Rugby Championship\u00a0in Queensland, Australia.<\/p>\n

The starting line-up has five changes and a positional switch from the run-on side that beat Argentina in the last Rugby<\/span> Championship match at the Sunshine Coast Stadium in Queensland, while there are several tweaks among the reserves.<\/p>\n

Apart from Bakkes\u2019 inclusion in the front row in place of Juan Smal, there is also a change at No 4 lock, with Thomas Dyer sitting out because of a niggle and the versa<\/span>tile Bathobele Hlekani moves from the side of the scrum to form the lock partnership with JF van Heerden.<\/p>\n

Thabang Mphafi, who played off the bench against Argentina U20s, fills Hlekani\u2019s position at No 7 flank, with Siba Mahashe (No 6) and Tiaan Jacobs (No 8) the rest of the loose forwards.<\/p>\n

Liam Koen also debuts as the playmaker and he partners scrumhalf Asa<\/span>d Moos in a new-look halfback pairing.<\/p>\n

The only other backline change sees Michail Damon in the fullback position, in place of Bruce Sherwood who donned the No 15 jersey in their previous match.<\/p>\n

Junior Bok coach Bafana Nhleko sa<\/span>id the team has worked hard over the past week and worked on the lessons from the Rugby<\/span> Championship in Australia, and they are ready to meet the challenge of Fiji on Sa<\/span>turday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a good holding camp in Stellenbosch last week and, since our move to our tournament base in Green Point on Tuesday, the focus has been on fine-tuning preparations,\u201d Nhleko sa<\/span>id.<\/p>\n

Fiji come into the tournament as a well-oiled combination because of their recent success in the Oceania tournament over fellow Pacific neighbours Tonga, Moana Pasifika and Sa<\/span>moa.<\/p>\n

\u201cFiji are a team with threats all round the park, big strong boys with excellent ball skills and dangerous with ball in hand. You need to be on it for 80 minutes, concentration wise, to deal with their threats.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, it\u2019s about excelling in our fundamentals, maintaining our strengths around playing from set piece and being in a position to make the right decisions when there are opportunities.\u00a0The contact area behaviours will be key on both sides of the ball.\u201d Nhleko sa<\/span>id.<\/p>\n

The match is the first of three Pool C matches for the SA<\/span> Under 20s, whose other group games are against Argentina and England.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the squad also had to make three replacements because of recent injuries. Prop Reno Hirst, lock Adam de Waal and fullback JC Marsh will all miss the Championship through injury.<\/p>\n

Hirst hurt his knee; De Waal has been ruled out with a hip injury while concussion means Mars will miss at least the first two matches. Their replacements are Herman Lubbe (prop, DHL WP), Jaco Grobbelaar (lock, Vodacom Bulls) and Hassiem Pead (fullback, DHL WP).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate when injuries happen especially for guys like Adam and Reno, who worked so hard (from previous injuries) to give themselves a shot at the competition, but it is part of the game, we wish them a speedy recovery,\u201d sa<\/span>id Nhleko.<\/p>\n

\u201cJC could still feature later in the competition and potentially, has next year as well. In the sa<\/span>me breath, it\u2019s great to welcome Hassiem back to the squad and Jaco, who missed the Australia tour due to injury – congratulations to both and we are excited to see their growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Junior Boks team vs Fiji, Sa<\/span>turday, 29 June at the Cape Town Stadium:<\/strong><\/p>\n

15 Michail Damon,\u00a014 Joel Leotlela,\u00a013 Jurenzo Julius,\u00a012 Joshua Boulle,\u00a011 Litelihle Bester,\u00a010 Liam Koen,\u00a09 Asa<\/span>d Moos,\u00a08 Tiaan Jacobs,\u00a07 Thabang Mphafi,\u00a06 Sibabalwe Mahashe,\u00a05 JF van Heerden,\u00a04 Batho Hlekani,\u00a03 Zachary Porthen (captain),\u00a02 Luca Bakkes,\u00a01 Ruan Swart.\u00a0Replacements:\u00a0<\/strong>16 Juan Smal,\u00a017 Liyema Ntshanga,\u00a018 Casper Badenhorst,\u00a019 Keanu Coetsee,\u00a020 Divan Fuller,\u00a021 Ezekiel Ngobeni,\u00a022 Tylor Sefoor,\u00a023 Likhona Finca.<\/p>\n

Issued by SA Rugby Communications<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Junior Springboks have included three uncapped players, namely hooker Luca Bakkes, flyhalf Liam Koen and outside back Likhona Finca, in their match day squad for their World Rugby Under-20 opening match against Fiji at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday. The encounter kicks off at 19h00 and will be broadcast live on SuperSport. Bakkes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":51472,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51411","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\/51411","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=51411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}