{"id":86294,"date":"2025-11-07T12:17:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T10:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=86294"},"modified":"2025-11-07T12:17:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T10:17:09","slug":"norton-leads-sa-u19-academy-side-against-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=86294","title":{"rendered":"Norton leads SA u19 Academy side against France"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Siya Kolisi with Junior Springbok captain Riley Norton. Photo: SA Rugby<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Junior Springbok<\/strong> captain Riley Norton<\/strong> will lead an exciting-looking SA u19 Academy<\/strong> team against France<\/strong> when the sides clash on Saturday in Ch\u00e2teauroux<\/strong>, approximately three hours’ drive south of Paris.<\/p>\n

Norton (lock) will captain a side featuring four other players from the Junior Boks’ World Rugby U20 Championship-winning team<\/strong> <\/a>in the first of two internationals on their European tour. The tour also includes a match against Ireland<\/strong> next week in Cork<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The other capped Junior Boks in the starting fifteen for Saturday are Oliver Reid<\/strong> (prop), Siphosethu Mnebelele<\/strong> (hooker) and Vusi Moyo<\/strong> (flyhalf), while Phiwayinkosi “Rambo” Kubheka<\/strong> (prop) will provide impact off the bench.<\/p>\n

The SA u19s were given a taste of what to expect when they participated in a series of combined field sessions with the French u19 squad \u2013 who are also based at the French High-Performance Centre in Marcoussis \u2013 on Monday.<\/p>\n

Junior Bok head coach Kevin Foote<\/strong> described Saturday’s match as a special occasion, with the clash seen in many ways as a curtain raiser to the much-anticipated blockbuster Test later Saturday evening in Paris between France<\/strong> and the Springboks<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Foote said his team would also use the match to honour Springbok captain Siya Kolisi<\/strong>, who will run out for his 100th<\/sup> Test at the Stade de France<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

“We want to play well for our country and play well for Siya, in particular, for appearing in his 100th<\/sup> Test for the Springboks; and we want to honour him with our performance,” said Foote.<\/p>\n

Regarding the selection for Saturday afternoon\u2019s match day squad, which consists of 26 players, as agreed to by both teams, Foote said: “It’s always challenging with such a talented group, but there were three things we considered when selecting the group. The first thing was that we tracked the guys the whole year, in the FNB Varsity Cup<\/strong> and the SA Rugby u21<\/strong> and u19<\/strong> provincial competitions.<\/p>\n

“We’ve also seen how they have committed to our programme and how they have settled down and fitted into how we want to play, and what our culture is. And then, of course, we took into consideration their performances in our ‘friendly match’ against France on Monday.”<\/p>\n

The SA u19s had only a week to prepare in Stellenbosch before flying out to Paris last week, but Foote reckons that the group’s cohesion is developing nicely, which was something that he took into consideration when selecting the team for Saturday’s game in Ch\u00e2teauroux.<\/p>\n

“We have a lot of data on the players, and we think combinations are important, plus we are building on those combinations all the time,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We are looking forward to Saturday’s occasion, which will see a clash between two teams who are very proud to represent their country.”<\/p>\n

The match in Ch\u00e2teauroux kicks off at 14:30 local time (15:30 SA time), and local organisers have confirmed that more than 7 000 tickets have already been sold.<\/p>\n

SA u19 Academy team to face France u19 in Chateauroux<\/strong><\/p>\n

15 Akahluwa Boqwana (Vodacom Bulls)
\n14 Lindsey Jansen (Vodacom Bulls)
\n13 Khuthadzo Rasivhaga (Hollywoodbets Sharks)
\n12 Pieter van der Merwe (vice-captain, Vodacom Bulls)
\n11 Dylan Miller (DHL Western Province)
\n10 Vusi Moyo (Hollywoodbets Sharks)
\n9 Elgernon Meyer (Fidelity ADT Lions)
\n8 Reuben Kruger (DHL Western Province)
\n7 Aiden de Costa (DHL Western Province)
\n6 Kebotile Maake (Vodacom Bulls)
\n5 Riley Norton (captain, DHL Western Province)
\n4 Heinrich Theron (Vodacom Bulls)
\n3 Danie Kruger (DHL Western Province)
\n2 Siphosethu Mnebelele (Vodacom Bulls)
\n1 Oliver Reid (DHL Western Province)<\/p>\n

Replacements<\/strong>
\n16 Liam van Wyk (Hollywoodbets Sharks)
\n17 Phiwayinkosi “Rambo” Kubheka (Hollywoodbets Sharks)
\n18 Ulrich van der Merwe (Hollywoodbets Sharks)
\n19 JD Hattingh (Fidelity ADT Lions)
\n20 Tom Barnard (DHL Western Province)
\n21 Vuyo Gwiji (Fidelity ADT Lions)
\n22 Luan Giliomee (Hollywoodbets Sharks)
\n23 Janco Purchase (Hollywoodbets Sharks)
\n24 Risima Khosa (Fidelity ADT Lions)
\n25 Brooklyn Newman (Vodacom Bulls)
\n26 Unathi Mlotshwa (Vodacom Bulls)<\/p>\n

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

Junior Springbok captain Riley Norton will lead an exciting-looking SA u19 Academy team against France when the sides clash on Saturday in Ch\u00e2teauroux, approximately three hours’ drive south of Paris. Norton (lock) will captain a side featuring four other players from the Junior Boks’ World Rugby U20 Championship-winning team in the first of two internationals […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":86295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86294","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\/86294","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=86294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/86295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=86294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=86294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=86294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}