Baby Boks eye place in cup final

JUNIOR Springbok captain and flyhalf Handré Pollard and his team mates are relishing the prospects of playing home team New Zealand U20 in the feature semifinal of the IRB Junior World Championship at the QBE Stadium in Albany, Auckland tomorrow.

The Vodacom Bulls flyhalf will play in his third consecutive semifinal after making his JWC debut in 2012 on home soil in South Africa. In 2012 he won the JWC title as a schoolboy while last year he was in the exciting Junior Boks team that finished third in France.

Tomorrow he and his teammates line-up against the Baby Blacks with a final at Eden Park next week at stake.

The Junior Boks came through unbeaten after safely navigating tough encounters against Scotland, New Zealand and Samoa.

Speaking to media yesterday afternoon during a promotional photo shoot at the Auckland waterfront, Pollard said: “There is a very good mood in our camp. We are excited by the prospects of playing New Zealand at home again. It will be a daunting task but the guys are looking forward to playing because this is a vital match and a must win situation”.

He added his team has taken a lot of confidence from their pool win over New Zealand, but each player knows it will be much harder come Sunday.

The big SA number 10 says he has learnt a lot from playing in two previous semi-finals.

“It it is more of a mental challenge than anything else. There is all the hype, excitement and huge build-up to the match but as a team you need to stay in your system so that you can execute your plan well,” said the Junior Boks captain.

Defending champions England and Ireland will meet in the earlier semifinal.

The match kicks off at 9.35am SA time at the QBE Stadium in Albany, Auckland in New Zealand and will be televised live on SuperSport. — DDC