Starting 15 for Baby boks v Argentina

SA U20’s make wholesale changes for final tour match April 19, 2013 Dawie Theron, the SA U20 coach, has made several changes and two positional switches for the team’s final match on Saturday evening (SA time) against Argentina Under-20 in Buenos Aires. The young South Africans will be hoping to bounce back after suffering a 42-27 defeat in their second tour match on Tuesday evening in Corrientes. Last Saturday they opened their tour with a 26-3 victory over an Argentine U20 XV. Dries Swanepoel of the Vodacom Blue Bulls moves from inside to outside centre, with 2012 Junior World Championship winner Handrè Pollard slotting into the No 12 jersey, a position where he has played for the majority of the Varsity Cup season for UP-Tuks. Robert du Preez of KwaZulu-Natal will now start in the flyhalf position vacated by Pollard, alongside his provincial halfback Stefan Ungerer. The only players who were retained from the starting line-up that played on Tuesday are: Jacques Rossouw (fullback, Vodacom Blue Bulls), Swanepoel, Pollard, Seabelo Senatla (leftwing, SARU contracted) and Irne Herbst (No 4 lock, Vodacom Blue Bulls). Theron said the squad wants to end the tour on a winning note. “From a tour momentum point of view, the result (on Tuesday) was certainly not ideal. To put things into perspective, we started off badly, conceding two tries in the first quarter. Also, captain sustained an injury and as a precaution, we decided to take him off. “The slow start could well be as a result of wholesale changes to the starting team which, however, found their feet quite nicely closer to the end of the first half. We managed to score four tries between the 30th and 50th minutes of the match and really looked good. "However we conceded 10 penalties in the last 17 minutes which dampened our momentum to build from those tries and we had a player yellow carded,” explained Theron. He added: “Looking ahead to Saturday, we've been honest with the squad and told them we would reward the best players on tour with starts in the final match after giving 32 of the 33 players generous game time during the first two matches. "Our squad will be announced next week and I am confident we are on the right track. We have invested lot of time, effort and resources into the identification and preparation of this group of players and all of them are highly motivated to give it a real crack on Saturday,” said Theron. The SA Under-20 Training Squad starting line-up versus Argentina Under-20 in Buenos Aires: 15. Jacques Rossouw (Vodacom Blue Bulls) 14. JP Lewis (DHL Western Province) 13. Dries Swanepoel (Vodacom Blue Bulls) 12. Handrè Pollard (Vodacom Blue Bulls) 11. Seabelo Senatla (SARU contracted) 10. Robert du Preez (KZN) 9. Stefan Ungerer (KZN) 8. Aidon Davis (EP Kings) 7. Roelof Smit (Vodacom Blue Bulls) 6. Kwagga Smit (MTN Golden Lions) 5. Janus Kirsten (Vodacom Blue Bulls) 4. Irne Herbst (Vodacom Blue Bulls) 3. Marne Coetzee (KZN) 2. Jacques du Toit (Toyota FS Cheetahs) 1. Neethling Fouchè (Vodacom Blue Bulls, c) The reserves will be confirmed after the Captain’s Run on Friday morning (Argentine time).

That side does not inspire me with confidence - it seems to have slipped somewhat from the initial squad selected earlier in the year.

 

I know they are without Jan Serfontein, Sergal Petersen and Jacques du Plessis, but one has to ask why Tyler Fisher is not involved, unless he picked up an injury in the last game

 Fisher hasn't played in a single game so far.

Geduld strangely played at 13 in the first game. a Gamebeaker that kid if you ask me. We beat them convincingly in the first game without Pollard playing. first game team was :

15. Sylvian Mahuza (Leopards)
14. Luther Obi (Leopards)
13. Justin Geduld (SARU contracted)
12. Harold Vorster (MTN Golden Lions)
11. JP Lewis (DHL Western Province)
10. Robert du Preez (The Sharks)
9. Percy Williams (MTN Golden Lions)
8. Aidon Davis (EP Kings)
7. Roelof Smit (Vodacom Blue Bulls)
6. Kwagga Smit (MTN Golden Lions)
5. Dennis Visser (Vodacom Blue Bulls)
4. Jannie Stander (MTN Golden Lions)
3. Marne Coetzee (The Sharks)
2. Jacques du Toit (Toyota Free State Cheetahs)
1. Neethling Fouché (Vodacom Blue Bulls, captain)

 

Second game we lost with Pollard at 10. seems this Robert du Preez kid has a bit more than Pollard. but we will have to wait and see. Pollard selected at 12 for the final game with du Preez at 10. Senatla is in there, so ther is some pace out wide. 

An option is maybe to select du Preez at 10 with pollard at 12 and serfontein at 13. don't know just a thought.

but a backline of:

du Preez, Pollard, Serfontein, Senatla , Geduld .... could be dangerious. but let's wait and see how the kids combine. combination and understanding your playing parter has alot to do with it as well. The point of this tour is to try stuff out so let him do it.