Junior Springboks set to fire shots at Scotland in final pool match

The Junior Springboks will be looking to fire off some shots at the Scotland U20s as they target an unbeaten pool phase and a place in the World Rugby U20 Championship semifinals, after Wednesday afternoon’s game at the Stadio San Michele in Calvisano, Italy (kick-off 3:30pm).

It has been a fantastic campaign so far for the Junior Boks, with two superb bonus point wins over Australia and England putting them on the brink of semifinal qualification, with them needing just a single point from their match against Scotland to make it to the final four.

They have thus taken the chance to freshen their squad, with just four players in the starting XV surviving from their impressive 32-22 win over defending champs England, but coach Kevin Foote doesn’t believe the team is any weaker than the one they put out in the first two games.

Ready to go

“I wouldn’t call these guys fringe guys at all. What I would like them to understand is that they are not backup players and they are all ready to go. The most important thing we are thinking about right now is to show our respect to Scotland,” explained Foote.

“We also don’t feel like we are at the top of our game to be honest. We have had some good results and I think we have executed some stuff really well. But we still have a lot of stuff to work on in our game and we feel like we can still fire some shots.

“So we are still a work in progress and we feel like if we can come out of the Scotland match knowing or game is getting better, and we put ourselves in a good position to play in the finals, that is the most important thing for us.”

Scotland are already out of the running for the semis, after going down 56-19 to England and 34-24 to Australia, and although the Junior Boks will be favourites, Foote admits they are expecting a tough game against a strong team.

“We think Scotland are a very good team. They attack really well and their set piece is solid. They did a shift against Australia, they’ve got some trick plays around their lineout and they really move the ball well. So we are expecting an exciting game against them,” said Foote.

What has been a constant theme of the Junior Boks campaign so far as been their impressive humility, despite their massive 73-17 opening win against the Aussies, and their brilliant follow up win over England.

Lessons learnt

Foote explained that was largely down to the teams leadership group, and the fact that they didn’t want to make the same mistakes that they did in earlier this year in the U20 Rugby Championship on home soil, where they lost to Australia and New Zealand on their way to a third place finish.

“We took a lot of learnings from the (U20) Rugby Championship and what it felt like (to lose). We went down to Australia by four points and New Zealand by three, and just that (sad) feeling in the change room,” said Foote.

“We got together afterwards and made a pact that we didn’t want to feel like that again. We wanted to make sure that we took those lessons and improved.

“The guys understand that we are in a really tough pool and we have started well. But I think there is a lot of humility in our team which starts with the players and the staff. The guys understand just what an opportunity it is to represent South Africa.

“We also understand that we have done well. But we are nowhere near where we want to get in this tournament. So I think that comes back to leadership if I am honest. If the leaders keep us humble and they understand what the bigger picture is then we all follow suit, so I want to give them credit for that.”