The Cell C Sharks and DHL Western Province, who must be two of the early favourites to win the 2022 SARU u/20 Cup will play against each other in Durban today. The coastal clash will kick-off at 13h00 on KP2 at Hollywoodbets Kings Park in Durban.
There will be no place for mistakes as this year's competition is played over a single round and there are no semi-finals to correct mistakes/losses during the season as the two top teams will immediately proceed to the final on 16 April 2022.
Both teams have several returning players from their 2021 campaign with Western Province losing to the Lions in the final.
Although extremely stupid to predict a winner for today Western Province with 10 returning players from their loss in the 2021 final should be the statistical favourites.
Cell C Sharks head coach Mike Vowles believes that the team is in a healthy state of readiness as they kick off their campaign against formidable opposition.
“We’ve been very happy with our preparation with hit outs against UKZN and the Cheetahs, putting in some good performances from which we took a lot of confidence out of.
“We’ve prepared as well as we can with the time we’ve had and we’re really excited about what the competition holds for us. Our squad contains quite a few second year players, a large group of under 20s who were with us last year.
“That’s really helped us with our preparations because they’re familiar with our systems and the expectations on them so they’re going to play a big role in driving performance.
We have an exciting bunch of youngsters.”
Of last year’s losing finalists, Vowles warns that, “We know Western Province will come well-prepared and offer us a proper test which is great. They’re always a good side and always really competitive with huge depth in their junior programme.
“But we’ve prepared well and had a good pre-season and must just stick to our systems, concentrating on controlling what we can control.
“We’re going into this game with confidence and an exciting, dynamic group of youngsters and it’s going to be great to see what they can do.”
No.8 Armand Maritz will captain DHL Western Province U20 as they begin their campaign against Cell C Sharks U20 in Durban on Saturday.
Maritz is one of 10 players in the starting line-up that featured in the DHL Western Province U20 side that made it to the final last year.
In the backline wings Luke Burger and Paschal Ekeji, centres Ethan James and Hofmeyr Retief and flyhalf Sacha Mngomezulu are all back after featuring last year.
Among the forwards, Maritz is joined by lock Connor Evans and the whole front row of props Corne Weilbach and Lamla Nunu and hooker Lukhnayo Vokozela for a second season in the team.
DHL Western Province Head Coach Labeeb Levy said that the continuity from last year will be helpful as they look to hit the ground running.
“It is always tough to start a campaign like this with fluency, but luckily many of these players know each other, so hopefully we will see the benefit of that.
“There is plenty of talent in this team and we are looking forward to seeing what they can do in a tough away match first-up,” he said.
Teams:
Cell C Sharks u/20: 1. Braam Reyneke, 2. Bryce Calvert, 3. Nash Mhere, 4. Andrew Beyrooti, 5. Corne Rahl, 6. Damon Royle, 7. Renzo du Plessis, 8. Siya Ningiza, 9. Bradley Davids, 10. Jean Smith, 11. Siviwe Zondani, 12. Brandon Wilkie, 13. Lloyd Koster, 14. Curwin Gertse, 15. Matthew Jacobs. Replacements: 16. Jaques Marais, 17. Phatu Ganyane, 18. Zocchi Zocchi-Dommann, 19. Enos Ndiao, 20. Nick Hatton, 21. Josh Miller, 22. Connor de Bruyn, 23. Hakeem Kunene, 24. Jordan Mcloughlin, 25. Luca Ribbens, 26. Banie Britz.
DHL Western Province U20: 15 Bruce Campbell, 14 Luke Burger, 13 Ethan James, 12 Hofmeyr Retief, 11 Paschal Ekeji, 10 Sacha Mngomezulu, 9 Imad Khan, 8 Armand Maritz (captain), 7 Paul de Villiers, 6 Hendrik Sieberhagen, 5 Connor Evans, 4 Oliver Kurz, 3 Cornelius Weilbach, 2 Lukhanyo Vokozela, 1 Lamla Nunu. Replacements: 16 Francois Breytenbach, 17 Yannick Marais, 18 Nande Moses, 19 Daniel Louw, 20 Jan-Daniel Cilliers, 21 FC Fourie, 22 Melbirt van der Spuy, 23 Masande Mtshali.
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