Junior Springboks buoyed by Argentine tour success
The Junior Springboks returned to South Africa on Monday evening buoyed by their most successful tour yet of Argentina.
Coach Dawie Theron steered the Junior Boks to a morale boosting 2-0 series win over Los Pumitas last week.
The Junior Boks defeated the Argentine Under-20 side 39-28 in Rosario on Saturday following their narrow, nail-biting 25-22 success last Tuesday in Santa Fe.
It is the first time a Junior Bok team have returned home unbeaten from Argentina. The 2011 team won 2-1 while the 2013 squad managed to win one of three encounters, losing one and drawing the other.
Theron, who led the South African U20s to Junior World Championship success in 2012, described the short tour as a huge success and ideal warm-up exercise for the World Rugby Under-20 Championship, which Italy will host in June. He was especially pleased with the fighting spirit and character shown in difficult circumstances.
“Argentina is one of the most difficult places to tour for any rugby team,” said Theron.
“The home crowd puts huge pressure on the visitors and you also take a while to get use to the interpretation of the laws here.”
He added his squad of 28 learnt a huge amount from the two match tour.
“The big positive for me was that we were able to stay focused despite the obvious challenges. We kept on fighting until the end, even when Argentina poured so much into attack. I think our conditioning was very good and that allowed us to fight until the end in both matches,” said Theron.
The coach also praised the mental toughness of the Junior Boks, and described the tour as his most successful visit yet to Argentina.
“We had a bus drive of more than two hours to Santa Fe for our first match, but I told the players to embrace the circumstances. I must thank them (the players) because they stayed very positive. Our motto was to approach the trip as part of the World Championship preparations, and that mind-set worked extremely well for us,” according to Theron.
The Junior Boks assemble again in Stellenbosch on Sunday and fly out to Italy on Wednesday, 27 May.
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