Family and friends attended the capping ceremony of the Junior Boks at the Markötter Clubhouse in Stellenbosch last Wednesday (19 June) before the World Rugby Under-20 Championship kicks off at the DHL Stadium and Athlone Stadium this Saturday (29 June).
Subsequent pool match days are scheduled for Thursday 4 and Tuesday 9 July.
Ezekiel Ngobeni, scrumhalf from Maties and Western Province, is looking forward to the tournament. His WP teammate Asad Moos from Ottery is the other scrumhalf in the Junior Bok squad.
“The experience we gained at the Under-20 Rugby Championship in Queensland, Australia, against New Zealand, Australia and Argentina, will come in handy as we are meeting Argentina again in Pool C,” Ngobeni said.
“Lessons we learnt in Oz are that you should use all your opportunities and execute if you have a chance to score when you are in your opponent’s 25. Matches are won and lost by small mistakes if you don’t execute what you trained for. During the championship we were lagging behind against Argentina as we were not executing properly. At half-time coach Bafana Nthleko gave us a tongue-lashing, you can watch it on the YouTube channel, and we got our act together and won the match.”
His proud mother, Shibe, and brother John travelled from Ravensmead to attend.
The Junior Boks are grouped in Pool C with Fiji, Argentina, and England. France will defend the title they won in Cape Town last year, and the South African u-20 team will look to improve on their bronze medal from 2023.
The play-offs, including the semi-finals for the top four sides, will be staged on Sunday 14 July, with the final matches on Friday 19 July.
The Junior Boks will start their campaign this Saturday against Fiji at the DHL Stadium, followed by pool games against Argentina at the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch on Thursday 4 July and England at Athlone Stadium on Tuesday 9 July.
- Tickets for the world event are priced at R35 for those 18 years and under and R75 for adults through Ticketmaster, with admission including three encounters at every venue.
