Lying second in their pool, the Junior Springboks are confident of staying in the hunt for the playoffs on Thursday when they face Italy in their second match of the World Rugby U-20 Championships in Paarl (kick-off at 4pm).
Though they earned a 33-23 victory over Georgia last week, they were one point behind Argentina in Pool C, after the Argentine team defeated Italy 43-15 in their opening match.
Junior Boks assistant coach Lumumba Currie was confident the sell-out crowd would get their money’s worth in the clash against Italy.
“We are expecting a cracker of a game. We are coming with energy and effort and Italy are a team who play with lots of passion and skill. So, we are expecting a fierce battle,” Currie said.
With one win under their belts, Currie felt the home side were ready to build some momentum in the early stages of the global age group tournament.
“We did struggle in certain areas against Georgia, but then, that first game was always going to be a tough one for us, as we have not played at that level for a while and intensity was something we needed to get used to,” he said.
“Now that it is out of the way, we are looking at stepping up in our effort and output.”
Fierce challenge
Currie, however, predicted the Italian challenge would be fierce, as their opponents would be desperate to pick up some points.
“They will be hurting because of the big loss against Argentina as they are a better team than that,” he said.
“They came within one score of beating England and France in the Six Nations and play with lots of skill and flair. But we have our plan ready for this match and have worked hard to deliver the best outcome for us.”
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Italy made 10 changes to their side and two positional changes ahead of the match, but for Currie that was of little significance.
“We are just looking at ourselves and what we need to do in this game to get the win. We are looking for good improvement from the last match and I am confident that the result will be a positive one for us.”
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