The young South Africans suffered their only loss of the tournament to England in the semi-finals after they had put together an impressive run of three wins during the pool stages.
Dawie Theron’s side played ten matches this season – five in the build-up to the Under-20 Championship and another five matches during the tournament in Italy. Despite being disappointed with the England result, Theron was pleased with the overall performance of his team this year.
“We played two matches against the Western Province Rugby Institute, had an outing against a more experienced Varsity Cup Dream Team and completed a very successful tour of Argentina. We also managed to win four of our five tournament matches in Italy, which gives us a success rate of 90 percent for a second successive season,” explained Theron.
The Junior Bok coach praised his medical and conditioning staff for their outstanding player management during the season.
“I cannot speak highly enough of our medical and conditioning team. For the first time ever we had all 28 players available, fit and ready for selection for all five matches in Italy, which was something remarkable given our physical approach.
“They worked tirelessly during the extensive training camp, our tour to Argentina and during the U20 Championship. The weather conditions were very different over there and we had to tweak our approach and training times because of the scorching heat.
“The squad adjusted well to our alternative approach and for this I must commend our entire management team, who worked hard behind the scenes,” said Theron. According to the SA Under-20 coach the defeat against England highlighted a few valuable lessons.
