Former EL pupils to start for SA U20 at World Cup
Junior Boks to face England in semis
OLD Selbornian David Coetzer and ex-Hudsonian Alulutho Tshakweni will make their first starts of the U20 World Championship, when they take to the field against England in their semifinal tonight.
After a dismal showing in their final Pool last Thursday Junior Springbok coach Chean Roux has made wholesale changes for the England match.
Hosts France thrashed the Junior Boks 46-29 in Narbonne‚ but SA still sneaked into the last four thanks to securing a try-scoring bonus point.
Roux has made six changes to the starting lineup‚ while including three players in the match squad who haven’t featured at the tournament at all.
Flank Phendulani Buthelezi and hooker Tiaan van der Merwe will earn their first starts, along with flyhalf Coetzer and prop Tshakweni.
Coetzer and Buthelezi joined the squad in the south of France last week as injury replacements‚ and while Coetzer made his debut against France off the bench‚ Buthelezi will play his first match in the tournament.
The loose forward is no stranger to international rugby after featuring in all of the SA U20 warm-up matches in the lead-up to the international showpiece.
Van der Merwe and Tshakweni‚ who both scored tries in the pool match against France‚ will also start in a new-look front row with tighthead prop Sazi Sandi.
The other change to Roux’s team was at inside centre, where Rikus Pretorius returns after recovering from the ankle injury he suffered in the opening match against Georgia.
He will partner up with Manuel Rass in the midfield.
The bench will also feature two tournament debutantes‚ as prop Leon Lyons, a team mate of Coetzer’s at Selborne – who joined the team on Saturday in place of the injured Nathan McBeth – and scrumhalf Jack Hart‚ have been drafted in among the replacements.
Roux expected a massive onslaught from England‚ who finished the pool stages as the top team‚ and said: “England are a very physical and well-coached side.
“Their set pieces are very good and they have two brilliant wingers‚ so we need to counter that.”
Roux’s charges worked hard at training this week to deliver a quality performance‚ and he believed that if they played to their potential‚ they had the goods to advance to the final.
“The important thing is not to get ahead of ourselves‚ but rather to approach it one minute at a time‚” said Roux.
Team: 15 Gianni Lombard (Golden Lions)‚ 14 Tyrone Green (Golden Lions)‚ 13 Manuel Rass (Golden Lions)‚ 12 Rikus Pretorius (Western Province)‚ 11 Wandisile Simelane (Golden Lions)‚ 10 David Coetzer (Western Province)‚ 9 Zak Burger (Sharks)‚ 8 Muller Uys (Western Province)‚ 7 PJ Steenkamp (Golden Lions)‚ 6 Phendulani Buthelezi (Sharks)‚ 5 Ruan Nortje (Blue Bulls)‚ 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain — Western Province)‚ 3 Sazi Sandi (Western Province)‚ 2 Tiaan van der Merwe (Golden Lions)‚ 1 Alulutho Tshakweni (Eastern Province).
Substitutes: 16 Schalk Erasmus (Western Province)‚ 17 Leon Lyons (Western Province)‚ 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye (Golden Lions)‚ 19 Ben-Jason Dixon (Western Province)‚ 20 Dian Schoonees (Golden Lions)‚ 21 Jack Hart (Golden Lions)‚ 22 Lubabalo Dobela (Free State)‚ 23 Sihle Njezula (Western Province)