{"id":8747,"date":"2019-04-29T12:50:47","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T12:50:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rugby.supersportschools.com\/junior-springboks-preparing-for-big-welsh-battle\/"},"modified":"2019-04-29T12:50:47","modified_gmt":"2019-04-29T12:50:47","slug":"junior-springboks-preparing-for-big-welsh-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=8747","title":{"rendered":"Junior Springboks preparing for big Welsh battle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JuniorSpringboks\"Junior Springbok coach Chean Roux said he was expecting another stern test in their second and final match on their warm-up tour to the UK against the Wales U20\u2019s on Tuesday in what marks his last chance to test player combinations before finalising the World Rugby U20 Championship squad.<\/span><\/p>\n

The match will be played at the Vale Resort outside Cardiff and kick-off is at 18h00 (SA time).<\/span><\/p>\n

Roux made four changes and two positional switches to the side that ran on against England in Coventry on Friday, with fullback Andrew Kota, scrumhalf Sanele Nohamba, flanker Evan Roos and prop Kudzwai Dube earning starts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kota\u2019s inclusion at No15 sees Thaakir Abrahams move to the right wing, while Marnus Potgieter switches from the wing to centre where he will join forces with Rikus Pretorius in the midfield.<\/span><\/p>\n

Flanker Phendulani Buthelezi will lead the team, which features an expanded replacements bench featuring 10 players.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have tried to give everyone a chance to play on tour so that we can see where we are at this stage,\u201d said Roux. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are another five or six players at home that we are also still looking at, so this is a good opportunity for everyone.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Of Wales, the coach said: \u201cThey are a very good side from what we have seen in the U20 Six Nations and they are well-coached. They defeated England in the competition and could easily have finished second on the log. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo this is going to be a good game and great test for the players, especially given the demanding schedule that we specifically planned for them on this tour.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Commenting on what he wanted to see from his team in their final international friendly before the World Rugby U20 Championship in Argentina in June and said: \u201cWe would like to see how long the players can hang in the game. We trailed England by five points with eight minutes to go in our last game, and the outcome could have been very different.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat said, we have tried to make this tour as tough as possible for the players. We flew to the UK on Tuesday, trained every day, didn\u2019t give them off, and we have had double training sessions as well because we felt that it would not benefit them in Argentina to rest before these matches. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo the main thing on this tour was to prepare them mentally for the World Rugby U20 Championship by making things as tough as possible. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully we can beat Wales with players who have had a more physically-demanding schedule, but the main thing I would like to see how long the legs can last in this game.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The Junior Springboks will face Scotland (4 June), Georgia (8 June) and New Zealand (12 June) in the pool stages of the World Rugby U20 Championship, with the team set to depart for Rosario exactly a month from today. <\/span><\/p>\n

Roux will announce his 28-man World Rugby U20 Championship squad early in May.<\/span><\/p>\n

Junior Springbok team to face Wales:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

15 \u2013 Andrew Kota (Vodacom Blue Bulls)<\/span>
14 \u2013 Thaakir Abrahams (Cell C Sharks)<\/span>
13 \u2013 Marnus Potgieter (Vodacom Blue Bulls)<\/span>
12 \u2013 Rikus Pretorius (DHL Western Province)<\/span>
11 \u2013 Caleb Dingaan (Cell C Sharks)<\/span>
10 \u2013 Boeta Chamberlain (Cell C Sharks)<\/span>
9 \u2013 Sanele Nohamba (Cell C Sharks)<\/span>
8 \u2013 Francke Horn (DHL Western Province)<\/span>
7 \u2013 Phendulani Buthelezi (captain \u2013 Cell C Sharks)<\/span>
6 \u2013 Evan Roos (Cell C Sharks)<\/span>
5 \u2013 Emile van Heerden (Cell C Sharks)<\/span>
4 \u2013 JJ van der Mescht (Cell C Sharks)<\/span>
3 \u2013 Asenathi Ntlabakanye (Xerox Golden Lions)<\/span>
2 \u2013 Fezokuhle Mbatha (Cell C Sharks)<\/span>
1 \u2013 Kudzwai Dube (Vodacom Blue Bulls)<\/span><\/p>\n

Replacements:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

16 \u2013 Dameon Venter (Xerox Golden Lions)<\/span>
17 \u2013 Nkosikhona Masuku (Xerox Golden Lions)<\/span>
18 \u2013 Hanro Jacobs (Cell C Sharks)<\/span>
19 \u2013 Janko Swanepoel (Vodacom Blue Bulls)<\/span>
20 \u2013 Celimpilo Gumede (Cell C Sharks)<\/span>
21 \u2013 Jaco Labuschagne (Vodacom Blue Bulls)<\/span>
22 \u2013 Dylan Richardson (Cell C Sharks)<\/span>
23 \u2013 Sibusiso Sangweni (Xerox Golden Lions)<\/span>
24 \u2013 Jay Cee Nel (Vodacom Blue Bulls)<\/span>
25 – Jaden Hendrikse (Cell C Sharks)<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Junior Springbok coach Chean Roux said he was expecting another stern test in their second and final match on their warm-up tour to the UK against the Wales U20\u2019s on Tuesday in what marks his last chance to test player combinations before finalising the World Rugby U20 Championship squad. The match will be played at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8747","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\/8747","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}