SA Schools look to wrap up tournament in style

IT has been a case of so far so good for the SA Schools rugby team.

The youngsters have won both their matches in the South African Under-19 series with consummate ease as they look to do the hat-trick at Paarl Boys’ High this afternoon.

Having seen off Wales seven days ago at City Park in Crawford and then France on Tuesday at Bishops, SA Schools, who are the only unbeaten team left, will close off the tournament with a clash against an England outfit who came off second-best against France and then SA “A” side last time out.

SA “A” under coach Sean Erasmus needed to regain some lost pride after their defeat at the hands of Italy on day one.

The fact that the locals had very little time to prepare for the series may have played a part in their demise. However, they bounced back smartly to beat England with a strong second-half showing and that will give the side a lot of confidence when they lock horns with the English in the main game – France and Italy start the day off.

SA Schools have improved with each match, something that would have pleased head coach Lance Sendin.

They were always in control against Wales ( 23- 17), who scored two late tries to get within six points of their opponents with enough time on the clock to alter the outcome, but it wasn’t to be their day.

The home side played with conviction and showed themselves to be dangerous unit on the counter.

The front eight performed their tasks well and that allowed the back seven to showcase their skill sets. Maybe a bit of work on tackling the man low in the tight phases is something that can be improved upon.

That said, SA delivered a classy performance in game two that the French had no answer to. Once again it was the hosts’ forwards that set up things. France were starved of ball in the first half and in the second committed too many basic errors in the face of steely defence from the Africans.

Now for the challenge posed by England. It should be a walk in the park for the homeboys.

England did push France all the way first time out, but against SA “A”, it was a poor performance and another like that will see them needing a calculator to tally up the final score. Both camps will look to make use of their 26-strong matchday squads with eight substitutes allowed.