• Junior Bok team named
• Today’s Fixtures
• Willie Lose previews day one

Junior Bok team named

Wiaan Liebenberg will lead an experienced Junior Springboks team when they take on Ireland in their opening Pool B match of the IRB Junior World Championship in Stellenbosch on Monday.

Paul Jordaan and Tshotsho Mbovane played in the 2011 global junior showpiece in Italy, while Jordaan, Pieter Steph du Toit, Ruan Botha, Paul Willemse and Steven Kitshoff have all played Super Rugby matches in 2012.

“We have put a lot of focus on our first game against Ireland and I’m happy to say that we were able to pick a team with this match in mind,” said SA Under-20 coach Dawie Theron after naming his team on Sunday.

“We have a good mix of experience and skill and everyone is keen and ready to go.

“It is great to have players with experience of Vodacom Super Rugby available, but the challenge will be for those players to contribute to the Junior Springboks in a constructive way.”

Theron said it would be a huge honour for the team to play in front of home crowds, although that brought its own challenges.

“We realise there will be added pressure because we’re playing at home, but we see that as positive pressure,” he said.

“We have a huge opportunity to play in front of familiar crowds and in familiar conditions and we need to make the most of it.”

Liebenberg, who captained the side in warm-up matches against Argentina earlier this year, said the players were ready to go.

“We’ve worked very hard to get to this point and now it’s time to deliver,” Liebenberg said.

“Everyone is keen and ready to go and looking forward to the opportunity and privilege of representing our country against the best age group players in the world.”

SA U-20 team: 15 Dillyn Leyds, 14 Paul Jordaan, 13 Pat Howard, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Tony Jantjies, 9 Abrie Griesel, 8 Fabian Booysen, 7 Wiaan Liebenberg (Captain), 6 Shaun Adendorff, 5 Pieter Steph du Toit, 4 Paul Willemse, 3 Allan Dell, 2 Mark Pretorius, 1 Steven Kitshoff

Replacements: 16 Jason Thomas, 17 Oliver Kebble, 18 Ruan Botha, 19 Braam Steyn, 20 Vian van der Watt, 21 Handrè Pollard, 22 Tshotsho Mbovane, 23 Maks van Dyk

Today’s Fixtures

Willie Lose previews – Day 1

Former Tonga international Willie Lose has these feelings on the matches on Day 1 of the IRB Junior World Championship 2012 in South Africa and who he thinks are the contenders to lift the distinctive trophy.

Willie, less than a day to go until the tournament kicks off, what is exciting you about JWC 2012?

Willie Lose: I think the fact that there is probably four or five teams that potentially can win the tournament, I think that is always good. The fact that a lot of countries are now using this as a stepping stone, and we are seeing that in particular with New Zealand with a number of the young guys who were in Italy 12 months ago being named in the All Black squad today. When you hear that Australia are now putting a lot more of an emphasis on this, bringing in their Sevens players, they are certainly here to win as well.

Does JWC 2012 have the potential to be the most exciting yet?

Willie Lose: I think so, but every year Nigel Starmer-Smith and I always say this is a tournament for New Zealand to lose, not so much for them to win because they always go in as the hot favourites. But just looking through the squads there is good depth in all of them, and also now with relegation it means that every single match for every team is vital.

Can New Zealand make it five titles in a row?

Willie Lose: I think that it is a New Zealand squad that has a lot of stars of the future but not a lot of guys that have actually been given a lot of game time back in New Zealand in the provincial championship. It is a pretty untried squad. One thing that is for sure is they are going to be very well coached and no stone is going to be left unturned.

I just wonder and question the fact that they haven’t brought back some of the stars that they had last year that were available, they have not be released from their Super franchises which I think is disappointing and I think that is going to be the difference. When I look at sides like South Africa, England, Australia and France, there are guys there that have been here before and that is what you need.

Australia have a lot of Sevens players in their squad, how will they make the transition quickly?

Willie Lose: I’m not sure whether they’re going to have that big an impact unless they get some quality possession and also some space. They have got a number of players there who were outstanding for Michael O’Connor through the HSBC Sevens World Series and I just think it is a totally different game.

If this was a Sevens tournament for Under 20s, I would say that Australia would win hands down. Sadly it is a game where there is not as much space and I’m sure that David Nucifora is well aware of that, so he will be looking to use those guys, probably with their big aerobic base, with their fitness, but more in a sense of trying to move the ball around, trying to get mismatches where those Sevens stars will come against bigger forwards and from there that is where they will be able to create some space and score some tries.

South Africa, disappointing in 2011, how will they go here?

Willie Lose: Well, I think if they play as they did in that last match in Italy, the 104-17 win against Fiji, where they wanted to prove a point because it was their worst finish … Looking through the side they have got, they have got height, they have got size, they have also got pace and a number of players that have come back as well.

I think some of the guys they have got in this team are going to wear the Springbok jersey in a matter of years, I think they will definitely be wearing it within the next 12 months and that is the pleasing thing.

South Africans in my experience have always been the most difficult team to play at home because they just go to another level. There is something about the pride of the South Africans when they are in their own backyard and the exciting players they have got, they for me are the dark horse and if there is a side that is going to beat New Zealand for the title for the first time in four years it is actually going to be the home Republic

Anyone else outside these teams, England and France who could make the semi finals?

Willie Lose: No, not at all. I think they are the big five. I look at France and I think that even in their Six Nations preparations from the amount of games I did get to watch, they are a side that are building slowly. England, successful yet again in that tournament, but I just think that Scotland, Ireland, Argentina and Fiji really aren’t going to push the big guns and so that is where the champions will come from, that big five.

What match on the opening day catches your eye?

Willie Lose: The one for me is going to be Wales v Fiji. I say that only because Fiji won the encounter last year and in 2010 Wales won on both occasions, and that is a match where Fiji want to stay as a core team. Speaking to their coach earlier, he said to me they are in sixth position, the best they have been in for a long, long time, and for them, in his words, they feel like they are the start of the sausage factory, they don’t get to eat the sausage on the barbecue at the end but they just slowly bring these guys through, who develop their skills, go to other parts of the world and I think that is a game that is evenly matched.

I don’t think England are going to be troubled by Italy, Australia will run all over Scotland, New Zealand will do it at a canter, France and Argentina will play a similar style but France will come out on top and Ireland will have no-show against South Africa.

Samoa back in the Junior World Championship after winning the Junior World Rugby Trophy 2011, how are they going to find the step back up?

Willie Lose: Massive and they are in the pool of death as well. Sadly for them they have come up against the world champions New Zealand, they have then got to face Wales and Fiji and they have got to stay out of the bottom position of being relegated.

Having been at their hotel earlier today, they are aware of what it means and they want to stay in this particular Championship. What they need to do is after pool play that is when they need to peak, sure play consistent in the first three games but then look to try and knock off an Ireland or a Scotland to ensure they are not in that bottom place and don’t get relegated.