Baby Boks ready for Argentina

03 March 2010 - 02:00
By Meshack Khotha

THE national Under-20 rugby squad hope to give it their best shot in today's opening clash of the series against their Argentinian counterparts in Vredenburg, Western Cape.

THE national Under-20 rugby squad hope to give it their best shot in today's opening clash of the series against their Argentinian counterparts in Vredenburg, Western Cape.

Kickoff is at 5pm.

The two sides will meet again in the final match at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday.

Coach Eric Sauls yesterday said they had selected a formidable 24-member squad and he was confident they would fare well against the Argentinians. He said they would use the two matches to prepare for the IRB World Junior Championships billed for Argentina in June.

"Both games will give us an opportunity to finalise the squad and get good combinations ahead of the world junior championships."

Sauls said their opponents had always prided themselves on their solid defensive systems, but he was confident his charges would be equal to the task.

Former SA Schools stars, flankers Lean Schwartz and Jean Cook, have been named in the starting line-up for today's clash. Schwartz and Cook represented the SA Under-18 High Performance team in international friendlies against France last year and were outstanding.

They will team up with captain and No 8 CJ Stander, who represented the Baby Boks at the 2009 IRB Junior World Championship in Japan to form the loose-forward combination for the Baby Boks.