PERPIGNAN – South Africa's captain Salmaan Moerat says that they will accept nothing less than victory, and a second Under-20 Championship title when the World Rugby Championship starts in Perpignan, France, on Wednesday.
“I was in Georgia last year and it didn’t go the way we wanted, but hopefully we can learn from the mistakes we made, keep errors to a minimum and perform to the best of our ability,” said towering second-row and captain Moerat, a bronze medallist in 2017.
SA's Wednesday evening’s match against Georgia, marks the opening game of the tournament, will be played at Stade Aimé Giral.
The hard work continues at training for the Junior Boks as they prepare to face Georgia on Wednesday #buildingboks @Springboks pic.twitter.com/N9BnVIab8h
— Junior Springboks (@JuniorBoks) May 28, 2018
England will be hoping to use their record 64-17 defeat to New Zealand in the final last year as a motivation to go one better in France.
“Obviously getting so close to winning something like that, especially with the history of England in this tournament and the expectation on us, meant that really hurt us, so we are definitely hoping to go one step further this year,” said captain and flanker Ben Curry.
New Zealand, though, will be favourites for the title and captain Tom Christie is in confident mood.
“Last year I think we got a lot right from a team point of view, so this year we are looking to repeat that but also create our own legacy as well. It’s always an honour to be a captain of a team, and when it involves the black jersey it just takes it to another level of excitement.
“I am really looking forward to what this tournament is going to bring from both an individual point of view and for the team as well.”