The 2022 SA Rugby Under 20 Championship commences this weekend when the Cell C Sharks Under 20s host their Western Province counterparts on KP2 at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on Saturday afternoon.
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.”
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.