{"id":81059,"date":"2025-08-20T12:39:38","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T10:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=81059"},"modified":"2025-08-20T12:39:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T10:39:38","slug":"foote-highlights-role-of-u18-series-in-junior-bok-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=81059","title":{"rendered":"Foote highlights role of u18 Series in Junior Bok development"},"content":{"rendered":"
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STELLENBOSCH, SOUTH AFRICA – JUNE 19: Junior Boks Head Coach, Kevin Foote during the South African national U20 men’s team training session at SARU Fields in Stellenbosch on June 19, 2025 in Stellenbosch, South Africa. (Photo by Ashley Vlotman\/Gallo Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

South Africa\u2019s premier international age-group tournament, the annual Under-18 International Series, once again proved to be an invaluable platform for the country’s top schoolboy young talent, with Junior Springbok coach coach Kevin Foote<\/strong> saying it\u2019s crucial in developing future stars and highlighting the importance of preparing the players for the rigors of professional rugby.<\/p>\n

Featuring two national sides, the SA u18 and SA u18 \u2018A\u2019 teams, pitted against international opposition \u2013 this year France, England, Ireland and Georgia sent teams \u2013 the Series provides a unique opportunity for players to test their skills against players from abroad.<\/p>\n

Foote said the series, staged annually in August, serves as a crucial link in SA Rugby\u2019s Elite Player Development<\/strong> (EPD) programme, acting as a feeder system for the Junior Boks.<\/p>\n

Like it did in previous seasons, this year\u2019s series \u2013 which was hosted at the school grounds of Durbanville, Boland Landbou and Paarl Gimnasium \u2013 again underscored its value in exposing South Africa\u2019s most promising players to a higher level of competition and forging the next generation of Junior Bok stalwarts.<\/p>\n

The 2025 edition was especially successful for the SA u18s, who won all three of their matches, against France, Ireland, and England, by comfortable margins. They kicked off the Series with a 43-21 win over the French in a match that saw both teams compete for the Mehdi Narjissi Trophy in memory of the French player who tragically went missing off the coast at Cape Point last year.<\/p>\n

In their second outing, they defeated Ireland by 45-5 before finishing the series on a high by dispatching England 69-24 in the final round. They scored a combined total of 157 points in their three outings for an average of 52.3 points per match, managing a series-high total of 23 tries in the process.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the SA U18 \u2018A\u2019 side lost a cliffhanger opening game by three points, 39-36, to Ireland. They bounced back to comprehensively outplay Georgia 57-19, but went down 40-14 to France in their final encounter.<\/p>\n

Foote and members of his SA u20 coaching staff played an active role, mentoring the SA u18 coaches during the preparation of their two teams. The Junior Bok coach was therefore understandably pleased with the efforts of the local teams, praising the contribution of the coaches, and speaking with admiration for the well-established SA schoolboy rugby system.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m super proud of both teams\u2019 performances throughout the series,\u201d said Foote.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought they did well, and I must credit the coaches, whom I thought prepared them well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe schools who hosted the three rounds also deserve a lot of credit for their fantastic efforts and hard work for staging the successful match days. The matches were well attended, and the energy from the crowd was electric.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe schoolboy rugby system in South Africa is amazing. Every school’s coach and headmaster; everyone involved in the development of those players, deserves a huge amount of credit. Well done to our coaches, Lwazi Zangqa<\/strong>, Flash Malinga, Clinton van Rensburg and Cobus van Dyk<\/strong>, on doing a great coaching job. And also Louis Koen, who did so well in putting this programme together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foote reckons the prestigious U18 International Series \u2013 now in its 14th<\/sup> year since the inaugural event in George \u2013 plays a vital role in the preparation of these two groups of players as future Junior Springboks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is, of course, a massive benefit to staging those games for our boys as it gives them the opportunity to play together at a higher level,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlayers like Ethan Adams and Markus Muller, for instance, played together and developed a partnership; and that goes for all combinations of both our teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis series gave them the chance to play international rugby, and exposing them, and the coaches, to gain international experience, which is vital for their future development.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foote also expressed gratitude to the international teams who travel to South Africa on a regular basis to compete against the best local schoolboy talent.<\/p>\n

With the u18 series providing young players on the cusp of their post-school careers with valuable game time at a high level as they prepare for rugby at senior level, the Junior Bok mentor was also very happy to see so many current SA U20s feature in the Carling Currie Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke with Johan Ackermann (Vodacom Bulls head coach and who was a coaching consultant for the Junior Boks at the World Rugby u20 Championship in Italy) recently, and we agreed how awesome it is for our Junior Boks to get playing opportunities in the Carling Currie Cup,\u201d said Foote.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, some of them will be able to put up their hands for selection in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship or the European competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was brave of the provincial coaches to give them the opportunity to play in the Carling Currie Cup, and it\u2019s nice to see some of them doing well. I am extremely proud of them, and to see them playing so well for their teams is something very special.\u201d<\/p>\n

u18 International Series results:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Round One:<\/strong><\/p>\n

SA U18 \u2018A\u2019 36, Ireland 39
\nGeorgia 35, England 31
\nSA U18 43, France 21\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Round Two:<\/strong><\/p>\n

SA U18 \u2018A\u2019 57, Georgia 19
\nSA U18 45, Ireland 5
\nFrance 53, England 20\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Round Three:<\/strong><\/p>\n

SA U18 \u2018A\u2019 14, France 40
\nGeorgia 13, Ireland 13
\nSA U18 69, England 24<\/p>\n

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

South Africa\u2019s premier international age-group tournament, the annual Under-18 International Series, once again proved to be an invaluable platform for the country’s top schoolboy young talent, with Junior Springbok coach coach Kevin Foote saying it\u2019s crucial in developing future stars and highlighting the importance of preparing the players for the rigors of professional rugby. Featuring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":76072,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81059","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\/81059","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=81059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/76072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}