Baby Boks can’t wait to start the real hard work
CURWIN BOSCH, Zain Davids and Salmaan Moerat all feature in a 50-man Junior Springbok training squad named by SA Rugby yesterday as the preparations begin to take shape for the Under-20 Championship in Georgia from 31 May to 18 June.
Bosch and Davids are among nine players who participated in the tournament in Manchester last year, where the Junior Springboks finished in fourth place, while Moerat is one of six SA Schools team players from 2016 in the training squad.
Stedman Gans, Manie Libbok, Benhard Janse van Rensburg, Embrose Papier, Cobus Wiese, Ruben de Villiers, Ernst van Rhyn and Carlu Sadie played for the Junior Boks with Bosch and Davids in 2016.
Moerat, who captained the SA Schools side last year, will be joined by his 2016 teammates Gianni Lombard, Manuel Rass, Wandisile Simelane, Damian Willemse and Muller Uys.
A total of 86 players were invited to two assessment camps last month in Pretoria and Stellenbosch, where the players participated in a series of speed and strength tests, and underwent medical screenings. The first training camp will be in Stellenbosch from 5 to 17 March, whereafter the squad will be trimmed down to 28 players in April for the tournament
“This is a talented group of players, and we can’t wait to start the real hard work in the lead-up to the World Rugby U20 Championship,” said Junior Springbok coach Chean Roux.
“The players who were selected really worked hard, which is very pleasing. They were aware of the fitness and strength standards required at this level of the game at the conclusion of the assessment camps, and we are proud of the work they put in to achieve that.
“But that was only the first step in what will be a mentally and physically challenging journey to possibly secure a place in the final 28-man squad.
“Over the next two months we will be working hard to put our structures and systems in place and to reach the desired fitness and strength requirements we would like to achieve as a team.”
This camp will be followed by a tour to the central unions from 26 March to 9 April.