Junior Springboks head coach Bafana Nhleko named five uncapped players in his starting team to face Italy in Paarl on Thursday in their second Pool C match of the 2023 World Rugby U20 Championship.
The experienced Lumumba Currie has joined the SA Rugby Academy squad in Stellenbosch in his capacity as newly-appointed Junior Springbok assistant coach, providing support to Bafana Nhleko with the Under-20 forwards in the programme.
A group of 41 players will attend this year’s SA Rugby Academy programme, which will also kick-start the Junior Springboks’ preparations for the World Rugby Under-20 Championship in South Africa later this year.
The Junior Springboks left their best performance for last as they outplayed Wales in the Six Nations U20 Summer Series final in Treviso on Tuesday night.
The Junior Springboks arrived in Italy on Tuesday evening and immediately went about their business to fine-tune their preparations for Friday’s opening match of the U20 Six Nations Summer Series against England in Verona.
In a bold step to fast-track the development South Africa’s elite black rugby coaches and drive transformation, SA Rugby has been actively presenting its custom-made programme to equip outstanding emerging coaches with the skills to ply their trade at provincial and international level.
The national junior rugby programme will resume after Easter with the intake of 36 promising players who will attend the SA Rugby Academy, based in Stellenbosch.
The 2022 edition of the World Rugby U20 Championship is in doubt as World Rugby considers regional alternatives similar to last year’s U20 International Series hosted in Stellenbosch.
Jake White says it’s time for SA Rugby to close the door to the Springbok squad on overseas-based players.
Five Springboks have been nominated for the SA Rugby Player of the Year for 2021.