The Cell C Sharks Under 19s will have their work cut out for them against perennial performers, the Blue Bulls Under 19s when the two teams meet on Friday afternoon at Loftus B in their SA Rugby U19 Championship clash on Friday afternoon.
A 38-29 victory over the Leopards last week saw the team maintaining a 100% success rate in the tournament, but it was a performance head coach Sean Everitt will be looking for improvement this week.
“In the second half we didn’t get our hands on the ball as much as in the first half which starved us of possession and we gave away a few soft penalties in the last 20 minutes of the game, whereas, in the first half, those aspects went really well and we were able to put phases together,” he explained.
“We’re a good team when we have ball in hand and we do look after possession for a number of phases, but it was quite frustrating when we didn’t manage to do that.”
Although they were in front all match in a game they were never going to lose, he pointed out that this week will be a much tougher prospect.
“The Bulls are never easy. They always have good junior teams and a good junior structure with the help of Tukkies, so they have a lot of depth. But we’re going there to get a win, we believe that we’re capable of upsetting them and we’re looking forward to the challenge. This match will give us a good indication of where we are at the moment.”
Everitt has made just one change to the starting XV, with Thaakir Abrahams coming back from injury and replacing Mats Matsinya on the wing.
With just the one change, continuity is assured. This has a duel benefit; one is the obvious momentum the team will take into this game, the other far more long term.
“We believe in developing our juniors to play senior rugby and to do that we have to give them time on the field,” Everitt explained.
| The Cell C Sharks U19 |
Replacements |
| 1. James Scott | 16. Cole Haggard |
| 2. Fez Mbatha | 17. Adriaan Staples |
| 3. Francois Klopper | 18. Dre Engelbrecht |
| 4. Lappies Labuschagne | 19. Philip van Dyk |
| 5. JJ van der Mescht | 20. Adam Mountford |
| 6. Vian Fourie | 21. Matt Doyle |
| 7. Dylan Richardson | 22. Onke Jiba |
| 8. Phepsi Buthelezi (C) | 23. Asanda Kunene |
| 9. Sanele Nohamba | |
| 10. Boeta Chamberlain | |
| 11. Thaakir Abrahams | |
| 12. Murray Koster | |
| 13. DJ Falconer | |
| 14. Caleb Dingaan | |
| 15. Muller du Plessis |
The post Next Stop Pretoria appeared first on Sharks Rugby.
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