Curwin Bosch will start at fullback for the Junior Springboks as Dawie Theron names his team to face Japan in tomorrow’s World Rugby Under Championship opener.
EP centre Jeremy Ward leads a strong side that includes Bulls man Manie Libbok at flyhalf and another Sharks man in right wing S’busiso “Skisha” Nkosi.
The game takes place at the Academy Stadium in Manchester and kicks of at 15h15 UK time, or 16h15 in SA.
Junior Springbok team vs Japan in the World Rugby U20 Championship:
Name | Position | Province | Date of Birth |
Curwin Bosch | Fullback | Cell C Sharks | 25 June 1997 |
S’busiso Nkosi | Right Wing | Cell C Sharks | 21 January 1996 |
Jeremy Ward (Captain) | Centre | Eastern Province | 10 January 1996 |
JT Jackson | Centre | Vodacom Blue Bulls | 10 July 1996 |
Mosolwa Mafuma | Left Wing | Toyota Free State | 13 February 1996 |
Manie Libbok | Flyhalf | Vodacom Blue Bulls | 15 July 1997 |
James Hall | Scrumhalf | Eastern Province | 2 January 1996 |
Junior Pokomela | No 8 | Eastern Province | 10 December 1996 |
Ernst van Rhyn | Flanker | DHL Western Province | 19 September 1997 |
Zain Davids | Flanker | DHL Western Province | 4 May 1997 |
Eli Snyman | Lock | Vodacom Blue Bulls | 25 January 1996 |
Cobus Wiese | Lock | DHL Western Province | 2 June 1997 |
Jaco Holtzhausen | Prop | Vodacom Blue Bulls | 12 January 1996 |
Tango Balekile | Hooker | Eastern Province | 7 March 1996 |
Kwenzo Blose | Prop | Toyota Free State | 12 May 1997 |
Replacements | |||
Franco van den Berg | Prop | Vodacom Blue Bulls | 31 October 1996 |
Jan-Henning Campher | Hooker | Vodacom Blue Bulls | 10 December 1996 |
Carlü Sadie | Prop | DHL Western Province | 7 September 1997 |
Ruben de Villiers | Lock | DHL Western Province | 22 March 1997 |
Denzel Hill | No 8 | Vodacom Blue Bulls | 17 January 1996 |
Embrose Papier | Scrumhalf | Vodacom Blue Bulls | 24 April 1997 |
Franco Naude | Centre | Vodacom Blue Bulls | 28 March 1996 |
Keanu Vers | Fullback | Eastern Province | 4 February 1996 |

sigh ………….
@Zibbie (Comment 1) : ek skree nie Japan nie, ek bly ‘n Bul
@robdylan (Comment 2) : 😆 😆
Not a single lion lol. Guess u folks dont have any prospective youth shame zibbie
@Zibbie (Comment 1) : I assume thats a result of seeing no Lions. Im not too familiar with all the guys but are any Lions guys glaring omissions?
@Stiko85 (Comment 4) : @SheldonK (Comment 5) :
yea . we have one oke in this squad . scrummie . he was in last years JWC squad .
guess there is much more excitement about the Bulls en EP scrummies ?
@robdylan (Comment 2) : should have been the name of your article 😉
@Zibbie (Comment 6) : I think its tough to overlook James Hall who has done well in super rugby. But yeh if the Lions man was at last years comp maybe he should be on the bench at least. But yeh i have heard a lot of people rave about Papier. So maybe just bad timing for the Lions chap. How did the Lions u19s do last year?
@SheldonK (Comment 8) : finished 5th , 1 point behind the FS in 4th . so you could argue the players are not good enough . But like you said about Marco . Could have been given a shot .
(People raving about Bulls players does not count . they could be shit and people would still rave . like Jesse Kriel and Pollard)
@Zibbie (Comment 9) : Yeh fair point. I mean EP won the u19s and look how many guys they have. I really havnt watched much of all of the guys play to really say who should and shouldnt be there.
Is that Cobus Wiese a relation
no3 holtzhausen 1.81m 117kg no3 sadie 1.80m 124kg
@50shadesofshark (Comment 12) : big …. and slooowwww
@Zibbie (Comment 13) : don’t know about that since I haven’t seen either play yet.what I found interesting was their height: both around 1.80m.
@Zibbie (Comment 13) : is that not how you like your props?
@Zibbie (Comment 13) : @50shadesofshark (Comment 14) : @robdylan (Comment 15) : think Thomas and Coenie is bigger and I would not call them slow!?
@50shadesofshark (Comment 12) : @JD (Comment 16) : Thomas is taller and bigger than both those guys and even he got shoved around at the u20 comp against England.
@SheldonK (Comment 17) : didn’t help that Thomas was still getting used to playing tighthead and came up against a guy who is now in the England squad. Ellis Genge was a potent in the scrum last year against the Baby Boks.
@slammerboy (Comment 18) : Yeh you right it didnt help Thomas, but he was the best option they had i think. The England u20s always have a serious pack though.
@robdylan (Comment 2) : I just hope we show Japan that we are much better when not coached by an incompetent clown called HM. Even if it is at junior level. Man, I still cannot forgive that guy for what he did to the Bokke’s history.
Good win after a slow start by the Baby Boks. This comp is very tough as you literally cant afford to lose 1 game or you are out. Winning is everything even if by 1 point. I only watched the extended highlights so didnt get the full picture but looks like we have some good strong runners and steppers, passing could be better and possibly so could the defense. That Jap winger is a beast though…i think a few teams will be taking out their cheque books