u19, u20, u21 Rugby

The semi-finals of all the competitions take place starting on Friday afternoon. The log toppers of the u19’s were the Bulls while WP finished first in the u21’s. Both teams are expected to progress to their respective age-group finals. The real attention will be on the other two semis which are expected to be closely fought affairs. Here the Lions u19’s host the Sharks u19, while the Bulls u21 strengthened by the return of several senior Currie Cup players are home to the Sharks u21.

Two very important junior promotion-relegation matches between sides from Border and the Eastern Province Kings are also scheduled to take place this weekend.…

The list of schoolboy players involved in under-19 Currie Cup rugby continues to grow. This week EG Jansen’s successful captain Pieter Jansen will be in action for the Lions against Border while the selection of talented Innocent Radebe, the St Stithian’s and Golden Lions flyhalf on the Sharks under-19 bench for Saturday’s match against Western Province has come as a bit of a surprise.…

The under-19 and under-21 Currie Cup competitions are also nearing the playoff stages. Just one round of competition lies ahead with a few final log places still to be decided.…

The Bulls are expected to make a press release during September with regards to their 2014 contracted players. Look out for at least 8 SA Schools players to be in that mix. So they will be mounting another serious challenge for top honours come next season. For now though, it’s their powerful 2013 group who are living up to expectations and are currently 7 out of 7 in this year’s Absa under-19 competition. Their lead over the chasing pack is so big coming into this round that even their bye seems to have done little eat into the comfortably on top. …

The Junior (under-19 and under-21) Currie Cup seasons have already reached the halfway mark. The Blue Bulls finally seem t o be getting it right at under-19 level. This year’s under-19 team is undefeated and leads the way in their age-group, which the Bulls haven’t won since they implemented their huge recruitment drive under head scout Xander Janse van Rensburg. Much time and money went into compiling the Bulls teams of 2010, 2011 and 2012 and each year they had to settle for second place. Western Province win the title in 2010 and 2012 while the Golden Lions claimed the honours in 2011. …

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This weekend’s outstanding 51-33 result by the Sharks under-19’s against the formidable Free State Cheetahs must have come a blessing in disguise. The Sharks coaches would have backed their boys to achieve this kind of success later in the season but following a home defeat the Lions a fortnight ago, the away victory this early on must surely have been a pleasant surprise to those who work with the team.…

Update: u19 WP 10 – 34 Bulls. u21: WP 14 – 6 Bulls. The Western Province under-19 and under-21 teams face uphill battles today when they take on the Bulls team City Park in Cape Town today (first kick-off:13h30). This season along their way to securing age-group the three major age-group titles, Province have beaten the Bulls every time.…

It’s still early days still but the indications are that the Bulls are a notch above all their opponents in this years under-19 national championship. A convincing 9-try, 61 points drubbing of the Leopards in game 1 of the season didn’t say too much on it’s own at the time but when the Leopards went down to the Cape and beat the unsettled defending champions Province albeit with entirely new personal off course, sudden the Bulls victory took on new meaning. …

The Baby Boks ended their IRB Junior World Championships 2013 experience on a high note by coming from 21-0 down to beat the New Zealand Baby Blacks 41-34 in a very entertaining match for third place. The Saffas played 5, won 4 and lost just 1 in the last minute at this year’s tournament in France. Judging by the quality of today’s performance the team had it in them to be the overall winners.…

Updated. The International Rugby Board named Sam Davies of Wales from their shortlist of three nominees as the IRB Junior Player of the Year 2013. This announcement was made following the final at the Stade de la Rabine in Vannes on Sunday which England won 23-15 against Wales.…

The game that no one ever wants to play takes place 15:15 this afternoon. South Africa and New Zealand have to find motivation from somewhere to lift themselves for this third-place playoff at the under-20 IRB Junior World Cup.…

Defending under-20 champions South Africa our out of the Junior World Championships after losing 18-17 to Wales in the first semi-final. With 2 minutes left on the clock, SA were leading 17-11. Wales then scored a clever try after looking like the less composed team in the closing stages. The architect was their flyhalf Sam Davies who then became even more of a hero when he slotted the difficult conversion to hand his team a 1-point lead which they held onto after a really stupid kickoff option by the Baby Boks, who needed to regain possession, had zero effect.…

The Baby Boks will face Wales under-20 in the first semi-final of the IRB Junior Rugby Championship being held in France. Kickoff is at 18:15 on Tuesday 18 June 2013. The winners of this game will meet the winners of the England versus New Zealand semi on 23 June. The second game will also be played later on the same evening at 20:45. Both matches will be televised on Supersport.…

Eish! This was not a good performance. The Baby Boks did not play as a team, had very little structure and made some fundamental errors but were still good enough to beat a very spirited French team 26-19. The game excited the home crowd and the French team fed off this passion but it was very much a start stop affair with tons of basic errors and with  just bits of individual brilliance rather than teamwork ruling the day. …

The Baby Bok team to play France in the final round of pool games at 20:45 on Thursday, 13 June 2013 has been announced. The big news is that SA’s star player Handre Pollard has been moved back to flyhalf after a miserable outing at inside centre against England. Pollard played flyhalf for the victorious JWC team of 2012, while he was still a schoolboy at Paarl Gymnasium.…

The South African under-20 team moved one big step closer to a place in IRB Junior World Cup semi-finals with a vital 31-24 win against England in a Pool A match. This was mainly due to a very good start which saw the Baby Boks playing with good continuity and flair.…

Starting at 16h45 on Sunday, 09 June the SA under-20 team faces a critical challenge at the IRB Junior World Champions in France when they play England. Although it’s defined as a pool match, it’s is a knockout game of sorts, from which the winners placing themselves in a very strong position to advance to the semi-finals and the losers facing the distinct probability of being eliminated from the first place chase.…

The IRB Junior World Championships for under-20’s being in France today. Although the South African Baby Bokke have an easy first assignment against the USA, they are in the pool of death along with France and England.…

Waterkloof’s impressive 2011/12 centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg was arguably the best player at Craven Week in 2012. The solidly built SA Schools centre has been called up to replace Jan Serfontein (Grey College 2010/11) for the up and coming Junior World Championships in France starting in June.…

An injury sustained during the Kings Super Rugby campaign has ruled Grey High and SA Schools 2012 wing Sergeal Petersen out of the 2013 under-20 Junior World Champs in France, starting in June.

His replacement is fellow 2012 SA Schools player Jesse Kriel.…