Baby Boks to up pressure

SOLID DEFENCE, a solid set-piece and sustained pressure. Those aspects are key to overcoming England in the semi-final of the World Rugby Under-20 Championship today (kick-off 7pm, SS1), according to Junior Springbok coach Chean Roux.

The Junior Boks will head into the play-off clash after suffering a 46-29 defeat to hosts France in their third and final pool match, while the English have secured bonus-point victories in all three of their group-stage games.

And now Roux just wants his team to apply pressure for 80 minutes – something they haven’t been able to get right until now. “The important thing is not to get ahead of ourselves, but rather to approach it one minute at a time,” said Roux. “If we can do that, we should be there at the end.”

Roux also said he’s expecting 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.”

The Junior Bok coach has made six changes to the side that faced France.

Blitzboks coach Neil Powell was humility personified after his team had snuck in through the backdoor to secure both the Paris Sevens and the World Series titles for the second year in a row,

Powell himself had plenty to be proud of after being named World Series Coach of the Year at a function in Paris on Sunday night, while one of his star players, Dylan Sage, was named in the World Sevens Dream team. In another accolade for Powell’s charges, Dewald Human was named in the Paris Dream team and also honoured with the Player of the Final Award.

“We were graced here today,” said Powell after his team’s monumental achievement, one that was only secured in the very last match of the final tournament of the 10-leg World Series.

“You have to feel for Fiji, who won five tournaments, only to come up short by two points in the end, but this is also a massive reward to our Sevens and SA Rugby Sevens Academy system,” Powell said. “There are so many people working so hard and the squad here today rewarded all of them.” Powell paid tribute to the 28 players used, management and all the support structures: “This is a massive credit to our system and we are all very proud to be part of it.”

reports Mike Greenaway.