The Junior Springboks are totally conscious of what’s at stake once they meet Ireland within the World Rugby U20 Championship semi-finals at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on Sunday, however in line with SA U20 captain Paul de Villiers, there aren’t any exterior pressures on them to advance to the ultimate subsequent Friday.
“Rather,” mentioned the flanker, “it is internal pressure. We want to do well as a squad, and we want to be the best team we can be.”
No strain
The strain of the knock-out nature of the sport isn’t one thing that bothers the squad, as they had been in the identical scenario on Tuesday once they needed to beat Argentina of their ultimate pool match, De Villiers mentioned.
“That match was a quarter-final for us, we had to win to advance,” he mentioned.
“Same here on Sunday, so we are not approaching it any differently. We just need to make sure we are ahead when the final whistle goes, even if it is 3-0.”
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Both De Villiers and vice-captain Katlego Letebele performed against Ireland final yr in Italy, the place South Africa gained 33-24 within the Six Nations U20 Summer Series.
“It is not quite the same Irish team, but what I know we will encounter is a very structured and disciplined team,” mentioned De Villiers.
“They like to unfold to the huge backward and forward and have good set performs on assault. They will even be match.
“For us to be successful against them will require our best effort. We need to make sure our defence is top class and disrupt them and we need to finish the opportunities we create. We need to start the match better than so far in the tournament as well.”
Poor begins
The Junior Springboks have been susceptible at the beginning of matches, conceding 37% of their factors within the first quarter. They have conceded extra penalties than another workforce (42) at a median of 14 per sport.
“We did have a good chat about that, and I am confident that we have sorted out those problems,” mentioned De Villiers.
“We played against three very forward orientated teams and did not adapt that well, while Ireland plays a more rounded game, more the same style we have, so I think it is going to be an entertaining match from that perspective.”
De Villiers is worked up about the truth that the Athlone Stadium crowd can be supporting them: “They came out in numbers to support us after we lost against Italy and that meant so much to the team to see that. This time around, we are playing for a place in the final and I know they will be backing us all the way.”
South Africa have gained three and misplaced one in every of their earlier 4 World Rugby U20 Championship matches against Ireland U20 (common rating 37-20) and gained final yr’s fixture, however they are going to be aware that the only real win (23-19) by the Irish got here in 2012, once they performed in Stellenbosch.
Kick off is at 16:30.
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