Junior Boks look to bounce back in clash with England
HIS team were still hurting from their defeat against France in their final World Rugby U20 Championship pool match, but they would rally together and work harder for tomorrow’s semifinal against England, Junior Springbok captain Salmaan Moerat said.
The SA U20s will do so with a new teammate in prop Leon Lyons, who will join the squad in the south of France after being called up as an injury replacement for Nathan McBeth, who broke a finger against France on Thursday.
“It was a disappointing performance from our side, and we are still hurting,” Moerat said.
“That certainly was not the way we wanted to start the game against France, and in a tournament like this you cannot be on the back foot from the start.
“But that said we need to look forward to what lies ahead. We need to keep working harder.
“One learns some valuable lessons in a game like that. So I would like us to become even tighter as a group this week and to focus on the next job, which is England.
“We will do our homework on them, prepare well, and be stronger as a unit.”
With England topping the log standings in the pool stages with bonus-point victories in all three of their matches, Moerat said they would pose a completely different challenge from that which his charges faced in Worcester on their warm-up tour to the UK.
“We may have played England before, but they will be a much better side going into the semifinal,” he said.
South Africa and England will meet in the first semifinal at Stade d’Honneur du Parc des Sports et de l’Amitié at 7pm tomorrow, while New Zealand and France will meet at Stade Aime-Giral in Perpignan at 9pm.