Cape Town - The Junior Springboks will once again hope to sort out their lineouts and scrums when they take on Argentina in Saturday’s third-place playoff of the World Under-20 tournament in Manchester.
The SA Under-20 side have battled in the set-pieces throughout the tournament, and it has been the individual brilliance from the likes of Curwin Bosch, Zain Davids and Edwill van der Merwe that have ensured they remained competitive.
Dawie Theron’s team capitulate entirely in the first half of their semi-final against England on Monday, when they conceded five tries in the opening stanza to be 31-3 down at halftime.
The Junior Boks mounted something resembling a comeback in the second half, but it was too late to change the result as they lost 39-17 in the end.
But as much as the set-piece has proved to be a challenge, Theron’s tactical approach has left a lot to be desired. Instead of making full use of a dangerous backline and the likes of Davids as strike-runners, the SA side has kept it tight with the forwards to bash it up the middle and pick-and-go from the breakdowns.
Instead, it was the English who showed the visitors how it was done with some sparkling attacking play, and the South Africans will have to rediscover their touch with ball-in-hand if they hope to topple the Argentines, who won the pool match between the two teams 19-13, on Saturday (3.30pm kickoff).
Fullback Bosch is also wasted in the last line of defence, and should rather operate at flyhalf and swop positions with Manie Libbok. Openside flank Davids has shown his absolute class as well whenever he’s carried the ball, but has been strangely reduced to largely defensive work in the last few games.
EP No 8 Junior Pokomela will take over the captaincy from the suspended Jeremy Ward, who is out for two weeks after a tip tackle on an English player, which saw him yellow-carded during the semi-final.
Theron made six changes in total in his last game in charge of the SA Under-20 before joining Japanese club Docomo Red Hurricanes, with Franco Naude replacing Ward at outside centre, Stedman Gans coming in for Mosolwa Mafuma at right wing, Cobus Wiese gets another start at blindside flank and there’s a new front row once more in Franco van den Berg, Jan-Henning Campher and Carlü Sadie.
“The last few days have been tough for the players, with (wing) S’busiso Nkosi and (scrumhalf) Embrose Papier returning home, and Jeremy Ward being suspended for a dangerous tackle. We also have a few niggling injuries, which we had to consult the medical team about, and on that basis we made a few changes,” Theron said on Friday.
“Argentina will be very passionate. They will be pleased with their performance in the competition up to now, especially since they advanced to the semi-final. We are expecting them to disruptive once again, especially in the set-pieces. But we will be ready for them.”
Junior Springbok Team
15 Curwin Bosch, 14 Stedman Gans, 13 Franco Naude, 12 JT Jackson, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Marco Jansen van Vuren, 8 Junior Pokomela (captain), 7 Cobus Wiese, 6 Zain Davids, 5 Eli Snyman, 4 Ruben de Villiers, 3 Carlü Sadie, 2 Jan-Henning Campher, 1 Franco van den Berg.
Bench:16 Tango Balekile, 17 Kwenzo Blose, 18 Nicolaas Oosthuizen, 19 Eduard Zandberg, 20 Denzel Hill, 21 James Hall, 22 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 23 Keanu Vers.