Junior Boks coach Chean Roux has made six changes to his team for Friday’s match against England at the Sixways Stadium in Worcester.
The team features a different halfback pairing of flyhalf David Coetzer and scrumhalf Rewan Kruger. Coetzer replaces Lubabalo Dobela, who took a knock to the head against Wales, while Wandisile Simelane and Rikus Pretorius will start in the midfield.
The other changes are on the wing where David Kriel comes in for Sihle Njezula, who is among the replacements, and at lock where Ben-Jason Dixon returns to the starting lineup in place of Ruan Nortje after dropping to the bench against Wales due to illness.
The clash marks the team’s final warm-up match before the World Rugby U20 Championship, which will be hosted in the south of France from 30 May to 17 June.
‘We are still using our player rotation system, so we would like to give players a chance, while continuing to test our player combinations,’ said Roux, who added that he is expecting a tough outing against the hosts, runners-up in the U20 Six Nations earlier this season with four victories in five matches.
‘England are a very good side. They almost won the U20 Six Nations and they are a very physical side. They are fresh, and as we played two matches leading up to this match, it will be important for us to be ready mentally and physically on match day.’
The game kicks off at 8:30pm (SA time) and can be viewed via livestreaming on www.englandrugby.com.
The Junior Springboks will arrive in South Africa on Sunday, and the players will have a few days off before assembling at their base in Stellenbosch for their World Rugby U20 Championship holding camp on Sunday, 20 May. The team will depart for the international spectacle on Friday, 25 May.
Junior Springboks – 15 Gianni Lombard, 14 David Kriel, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Rikus Pretorius, 11 Tyrone Green, 10 David Coetzer, 9 Rewan Kruger, 8 Muller Uys, 7 PJ Steenkamp, 6 Dian Schoonees, 5 Ben-Jason Dixon, 4 Salmaan Moerat (c), 3 Sazi Sandi, 2 Schalk Erasmus, 1 Nathan McBeth.
Subs: 16 Daniel Jooste, 17 Tiaan van der Merwe, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19 Phendulani Buthelezi, 20 Ruan Nortje, 21 Jack Hart, 22 Lyle Hendricks, 23 Sihle Njezula.
Photo: @Junior Boks/Twitter
