In a pleasing display of the country’s depth at the age-group level, South Africa’s two teams that participated in the recent Under-18 International Series, the SA U18 and the SA U18 ‘A’ sides, delivered impressive performances to finish the annual series unbeaten.
The SA U18s only played two matches because of the withdrawal of France, following the tragic incident prior to the start of the tournament when one of their players was swept out to see at Cape Point, while the SA U18 ‘A’ side’s involvement was reduced to one game to allow the three remaining international participants the opportunity to still play their three planned matches.
Both South African teams gave outstanding performances against quality opposition, which augurs well for the future of the Junior Springboks, the next step in SA Rugby’s player development pathway.
The SA U18 ‘A’ outfit overcame a gritty Georgia 20-3 in their encounter at Stellenberg High School in Cape Town, while the SA U18s defeated Ireland 38-26 at Paarl Gimnasium, and followed that up by beating England 39-14 at Paarl Boys’ High.
James Winstanley, the SA U18 coach, also used the two matches to implement a rotation system so that every player in the squad had an opportunity to play. Despite making wholesale changes for their final match, the young South Africans comfortably gave their best performance as they dismantled England, who traditionally are one the powerhouses of age-group rugby.
Winstanley was full of praise for the team after their winning performance against England on Tuesday. The SA U18s had their opponents under pressure throughout the game, displaying controlled aggression upfront and skilful handling and running amongst the backs.
“Our series concluded with a dominant performance against England as we addressed the shortfalls from our previous game against Ireland,” said Winstanley.
“I am pleased with the set pieces which allowed us to apply pressure with and without the ball, and control both the gain line and flow of the game.
“We achieved our goals of pressure through the kicking game but not at the expense of identifying space and opportunities, ensuring that we were strong in all areas.”
Winstanley was especially pleased with the amount of talent in the squad and praised the hard work behind the scenes by the coaching and management staff.
“We are blessed to have a strong leadership group which was complimented by a depth of talent within the squad,” he said.
“Our outcome goal, as team management, was to create a gold standard experience for the boys and I would like to thank the coaches and support team for making this happen.
“The overarching aim of exposing the players to international rugby with a view to preparing them for the Junior Bok pathway was also successful. SA Rugby has really supported us and given us every resource needed to succeed and I would like to thank them for making a special series possible.”
Lively speedster Cheswill Jooste scored two tries against England on Tuesday to boost his overall tally to three in two games. SA U18 flyhalf Vusi Moyo contributed 13 points from three penalty goals and two conversions.
Amongst the SA U18 forwards, Sethu Mnebelele (hooker) led from the front, while lock Riley Norton with loose forwards Reuben Kruger and Josh Neill also made telling contributions on the field, along with backs Yaqeen Ahmed (flyhalf), Markus Muller, Pieter van der Merwe (midfielders), Khuti Rasivhaga, Zekhethelo Siyaya and Akha Boqwana (outside backs).