U-20 Rugby Champs: Junior Boks want to finish with a bang

It’s been a bit of a slog for the Junior Springboks at the inaugural Under-20 Rugby Championship taking place in Australia and if they don’t want to return home next week with their tails between their legs they’re going to have to produce a special performance in their final match on Sunday.

While it is true the conditions Down Under have been unfavourable with the action taking place in wet and windy weather in Brisbane, the Junior Boks have not played to the standard one would expect of a South African team.

After playing to a 13-13 draw with New Zealand in their opening game, they crashed to a 24-19 loss to Australia on Tuesday and now face tricky and unpredictable Argentina, who so far have hammered Australia 25-6 and lost to New Zealand 20-43.

‘Disappointing and frustrating’

Whoever loses on Sunday will finish the competition in last place, something the South Africans will dearly want to avoid.

Junior Boks wing Litelihle Bester says the team are determined to correct the wrongs from the Australia game and end with a bang.

“We want to show that we’ve learnt from our mistakes and play the type of rugby that we know we can deliver,” said Bester, who’s something of a seasoned player at world U-20 level having played in last year’s World Rugby U-20 Championship in Cape Town.

“Up to now, it’s been both disappointing and frustrating because we managed to get ourselves into good field positions in both games, but poor execution and unforced errors led to many spoilt opportunities.

“We showed only glimpses of our potential and we are determined, looking forward, to put into practice what we’ve learnt and deliver a much better performance.”

‘Play to full potential’

Lock Thomas Dyer agreed with his national and Sharks team-mate.

“We all realised that we’ve not played to our potential so far on this tour, and while we’re not underestimating Argentina, we now have a last opportunity to play to our full potential,” he said.

The match kicks off at 5.30am (SA time) and will be available to view on SuperSport. The Australia versus New Zealand match will follow at 7.30am, both being played at the Sunshine Coast Stadium in Brisbane.