SA U20 hopefuls made to work hard in Stellenbosch
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Loading...South Africa Under-20 head coach Dawie Theron is cracking the whip to prepare his training group for the daunting task of winning the prestigious Junior World Championship title in New Zealand in June.
Since the squad assembled in Stellenbosch almost two weeks ago, Theron and his conditioning staff have been working around the clock with the players to knock them into shape for the grueling task in Auckland.
The Kiwi’s will host the prestigious JWC showpiece for the first time from June 2 to 20 in Auckland. The SA U20’s won the title for the first time in 2012 in front of a JWC Final record crowd at DHL Newlands, while they finished in third place last year in France following a memorable come-from-behind win against New Zealand.
In addition to their video and planning sessions at the training camp, the players also had visual skills coaching in the EyeGym lab of Dr Sherylle Calder, while members of the SARU Mobi-Unit also weighed in with their expert training methods.
On Thursday morning the SA U20 hopefuls had a full contact session against the Western Province Rugby Institute at the Paul Roos Markötter Stadium in Stellenbosch, and soon after Theron declared himself happy with the progress made by his training group.
“Since last week the main focus of our activities have been to put our systems in place,” said the coach. “We shared a lot of information with the players and it is really great for us as a coaching team to see them grow in this process.”
According to Theron a similar session between the two squads is planned for next Tuesday.
“The plan is to give some of the players who were involved in the Vodacom Cup and Vodacom Super Rugby competitions the opportunity to play in next week’s match,” explained the SA U20 coach.
This, Theron hoped, would provide a clearer picture of the composition of his final squad, which will participate in an international series against Argentina early next month in the Western Cape, before jetting off to Auckland on May 26.
The Argentina Under-20 team will arrive in South Africa on April 28 for the series.
SARU will announce the official SA U20 JWC squad on Tuesday 22 April at a media conference in Cape Town.
Key dates for the South Africa Under-20 activities:
JWC Squad announcement
22 April – Cape Town
International friendly series vs Argentina
02 May – SA U20 vs Argentina at Saldanha Bay
06 May – SA U20 vs Argentina at Paul Roos, Stellenbosch
10 May – SA U20 vs Argentina at City Park, Cape Town
Holding camp, Stellenbosch
23 – 26 May
Capping Ceremony, Clubhouse, Paul Roos Markötter Stadium
25 May
Squad departure from Cape Town Int. Airport
26 May
JWC 2014 Pool fixtures:
2 June: SA vs Scotland (North Harbour)
6 June: SA vs New Zealand (North Harbour)
10 June: SA vs Samoa (Pukekohe)
15 June: Playoffs (Tbc)
20 June: Finals (Auckland)
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