Curwin Bosch will again wear the number 15 jersey as the Junior Springboks aim to topple favourites England in tonight’s World Rugby Under 20 Championship semi final. Bosch put in a stunning performance to help turn around a poor start as the Boks beat France in their final pool game last week.
Fellow Shark, winger S’busiso Nkosi, is less fortunate and has to sit the clash out after suffering a thigh injury at training. Scrumhalf Embrose Papier is in a similar position, having injured an ankle.
In all, coach Dawie Theron has made six changes to his starting team, with the other four coming up front. The entire front row has been changed, while Ernst van Rhyn also replaces Cobus Wiese at flank.
The game kicks off at 19h45 local time (or 20h45 in South Africa).
Junior Springboks: 15 Curwin Bosch, 14 Mosolwa Mafuma, 13 Jeremy Ward (captain), 12 JT Jackson, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Marco Jansen van Vuren, 8 Junior Pokomela, 7 Ernst van Rhyn, 6 Zain Davids, 5 Eli Snyman, 4 Ruben de Villiers, 3 Jaco Holtzhausen, 2 Tango Balekile, 1 Nicolaas Oosthuizen.
Replacements: 16 Jan-Henning Campher, 17 Franco van den Berg, 18 Carlü Sadie, 19 Eduard Zandberg, 20 Cobus Wiese, 21 James Hall, 22 Franco Naude, 23 Keanu Vers.
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Going to be a tough one for this side. Eng usually have a monster pack that they need to deal with. Our pack needs to man up and the backs run hard and straight.
Good luck lads this is going to be a tough one!!!
As long as the rain stay away, we’ll be able to make a fight of it.
This must be the first year in our history, that our backline is better than our forwards.
Jeepers, England are just running through us at will!! Terrible…3-19 already…
Yet again the side looks poorly coached and too dependent on individual brilliance.
Something as simple as the pick and drive coordination is sub-par. Midfield defence is non-existent. Don’t get how people are worried about Bosch’s tackling at 15 when 10-13 can’t stop a single runner. Shocking.
@Big Fish (Comment 5) : Shocking…shocking, shocking, shocking…
Even a man down England scores at will…try number 5 makes it 3-31 at halftime…embarrassing!!!
No surprise. SA Rugby’s future can only be described as bleak. Having said that, considering dogshit first halves and sometimes epic second halves of late, we seem to have developed comeback ability, so let’s see.
I guess a torrential downpour would have made the score a little more respectable.
Time for the Southern Hemisphere to have a u/20 rugby championship, have the games as pre-match to the seniors.
If my memory serves, 2012 was the last time a sh team won u/20 wc.
Sho!! I can’t remember the feeling of dominance. ..this is a poor reflection…JEEZ!
@Sharkfinn (Comment 10) : After the France game’s first half I called these guys all sorts of crap, for which I felt felt bad the next day.
Can they make a comeback again? Doubt it big time.
Well, there are two good steps towards a comeback…
Damn…penalty England…17-34…
Junior Boks backs very static…
England looks professional. We look like a poor Barbarians side coached by a South African.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 9) : There’ll be no one left to play Currie Cup
@vanmartin (Comment 16) : Like that matters of late, but rather that than another age group comp in which we suck…
The Oz ref isn’t helping things
@Sharkfinn (Comment 18) : Been that way from the start with the side entry steals at the rucks.
I rest my case!
Slim pickings going forward.
@Sharkfinn (Comment 20) : Can’t blame the ref
His knees were on the ground ffs
Pls dont blow them for hands in…..ok its over…ffs!
We weren’t great…didn’t deserve to win…and that’s pretty much how it went!
Apparently Theron went for skills over size when he selected this team….too bad England went for size and then coached them the necessary skills.
These English boys are also apparently part of the high performance system from the age of 16.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 26) : seems the English is doing something right as this is their 3 final in a row!
This U20 is proving to be a real problem for SA sides since we won the home tournament. And perhaps a change in coach may change things but i doubt it unless other things change too. In previous tournaments we have tried to pick the biggest side possible but they were still dominated by more powerful packs. So this year they changed the script entirely and picked the flashy attacking players- problem is none of them can tackle…not at all. We need to quickly learn that there needs to be balance in a side. You have to be strong and powerful not just heavy. You need to be able to both attack and defend not just one of them. Until we learn that there wont be better than a top 4 finish at most.
@pastorshark (Comment 25) : I stopped watching at HT. I knew we wouldn’t be able to come back from 31-3 with that ENG defense. They turned us over multiple times when we were on the attack in their 22m and we just couldn’t break their line and finish. We were well of their pace and commitment.
@Quintin (Comment 29) : 2nd half saw us showing better shape on defense….the English got away with murder at the breakdown, and our tiny forwards just couldn’t really clean the ruck properly.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 30) : 2nd half they did show some more aggression and upped the tempo a bit especially getting off the line to defend. But it was still men vs boys…man for man they were much stronger and more powerful…they broke tackles and we couldnt get them off the ball. Ref did allow them a lot of leeway but guess thats what you get for being the stronger side. We really need to look at the strength and conditioning of our players in the junior setups and higher. Eng didnt do anything fancy…they just smashed us with the basics of the game
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 8) : dont have enough Lions players in the squad
@Quintin (Comment 29) : @FireTheLooser (Comment 30) : @SheldonK (Comment 31) : I had a feeling England will win as they’re very physical (and have been for a couple of years). England are investing time and money into junior rugby and now they are getting the rewards. This is their 3rd final in a row.
BTW also only watched first half decided to rather watch Jeff Dunham at least he’s funny
@JD (Comment 33) : I must say i was very impressed with the English (havnt watched the Irish but i believe they are also pretty similar). The English were well conditioned from 1-15. Every one of them were strong in the tackle and competed at the rucks. Their handling was slick and they did the basics really well. A couple of their tries came from just moving the ball down the line, no skip passes. As a Bok supporter was tough to watch, but as a rugby fan it was a pleasure to see the basics of the game executed so well.
@JD (Comment 33) : 4th. They won it in 2013 and 2014 and lost to NZ in the final in 2015. Look like favourites to win it this year!
@FireTheLooser (Comment 9) : nope . 2015 was the AB’s
@Zibbie (Comment 32) : careful now, Mr One-Trick Pony
@robdylan (Comment 37) : hahha 🙂 we will have to punt this for a while :p
Good Morning guess, lets be honest the Baby Boks didn’t belong in the Semi Final . We were in a weak Pool and that help us …. but if you look at the Baby All Blacks and the Wales team , there is no way that we even near there league.
Post edited: Admin
@The Coach (Comment 39) :
Fascinating insights here, really. 🙄
@Big Fish (Comment 40) : Well deserved comment, might be the lack if actual knowledge there from him
@Henkb (Comment 41) : I’ve edited the racist post and suspended posting rights. Let’s just move on.
@robdylan (Comment 42) : Okay, no problems Rob, was just rubbing me a bit wrong today, sorry
@Henkb (Comment 43) :
I know how you feel. The Baby Boks were awful but such drivel is just uncalled for.
Plus I’m much more sensitive cos all my rugby teams are in not so good spaces right now…
@Henkb (Comment 43) : good for you mate. We must not EVER turn a blind eye to people saying divisive, racist things. But this is not the place to have that argument.