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Cape Town - Junior Springbok coach Dawie Theron has made eight changes to his match-23 for Saturday’s Pool B match at the World Under-20 Championship against Samoa in Parma, Italy.
Four of these players will make a first start for the team, although only right wing Grant Hermanus will make a run-on debut in the tournament. Mzamo Majola (prop), Hyron Andrews (lock), Jacques Vermeulen (flank) and EW Viljoen (fullback) are all on the bench.
As part of his player management process at the World Rugby Under-20’s, Theron also made three changes to his pack of forwards. Hooker Joseph Dweba, Jason Jenkins (lock) and Dan du Preez (No 6 flank) will start on Saturday in Parma after all three saw action from the bench against Italy.
It means the Du Preez twins, Dan and Jean-Luc, will play together in the starting team for the first time in Italy.
Theron commented as follows on the several changes: “The changes are all part of our process to manage the players effectively during the tournament. There is a short turnaround time between matches and we must make use of our full squad.”
He says his team have prepared well for Samoa: “We expect Samoa to be very physical against us. They were competitive and very physical against Australia and we can expect the same on Saturday. They are also prepared to run the ball from anywhere so we will have to be on our guard with our defense.”
Kick-off is at 18:30 and the match will be shown live on SuperSport and also on the World Rugby streaming on the Internet.
Junior Springbok team
15. Warrick Gelant, 14. Grant Hermanus, 13. JT Jackson, 12. Daniel du Plessis, 11. Leolin Zas, 10. Brandon Thomson, 9. Ivan van Zyl, 8. Hanro Liebenberg (captain), 7. Jean-Luc du Preez, 6. Dan du Preez, 5. RG Snyman, 4. Jason Jenkins, 3. Thomas du Toit, 2. Joseph Dweba, 1. Ox Nche
Substitutes: 16. Jan van der Merwe, 17. Mzamo Majola, 18. Frans van Wyk, 19. Hyron Andrews, 20. Jacques Vermeulen, 21. Marco Jansen van Vuren, 22. Tinus de Beer, 23. EW Viljoen
