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The Junior Springboks have qualified as the top team at the U20 Championship and next face Argentina in the semi-finals.
Junior Boks No 9 Ceano Everson in action against Scotland. Picture: Timothy Rogers/Getty Images
Junior Springboks coach Kevin Foote admits he’s “got a difficult problem” regarding who’ll run out for his team in their World Rugby U20 Championship semi-final against Argentina in Viadana, Italy on Monday.
Foote has picked very different teams for the side’s three matches at the tournament where the Junior Boks have beaten Australia, England and Scotland comfortably to qualify for the last-four. The question now is, who does he pick for the semi-final?
Foote admitted after Wednesday’s impressive 11-try win against the Scots settling on a final match-23 would be difficult.
“It is a difficult problem to have and I keep on going on about the talent we have in the country. It will be a very difficult job and will be hard to leave guys out.”
The Junior Boks face Argentina on Monday, while New Zealand and France square off in the other semi-final.
Big Scotland win
Speaking about his team’s performance against Scotland, Foote said: “It was a mature effort and our squad is in a good place. I thought our back row were excellent around the breakdown.
“They are a humble bunch and immediately after the game in the changeroom room they were happy, but there was a real purpose among them to move onto the next job.
“Some of those tries were great and most of them were as a result of the work done at the breakdown and massive effort upfront, which gave the boys such a good platform. And when they got the space in front of them, they really are exciting on attack.
“The support lines of the guys were excellent today. The whole team were just so clinical in how they went about it.”
Thando Biyela, the captain on the day and one of the try-scorers, led by example and said afterwards it was a tough game, despite the convincing scoreline.
“It was a good win but a tough game,” said Biyela.
“I thought we started the game well and had a good opening 20 minutes, which set us up for the rest of the game. But I must give credit to Scotland who tested us in the second half.
“Of course there’s always room for improvement. We want to put in an 80-minute performance and play to our full potential.”
