The South Africans finished 3rd in the recently completed under 20 Rugby Championship also featuring New Zealand, Australia and Argentina in Gqeberha.

In spite of this the team feels the valuable experience was just what they needed. The Junior Boks beat Argentina in the opening game but then lost to Australia also after letting a lead slip through their fingers.

The coach, Kevin Foote says this was dissapointing but the team's attacking skills will be a solid foundation to build on.

We scored some amazing tries and Malusi did an amazing job and i feel that the players have got good clarity on attack and we played some exciting brilliant rugby and to hear the crowd getting behind us and the support when we light it up was amazing, we know we are not a finished product and we know we have a lot of work to do but I think our attack has come a long way.

This was the first time the players have played in a major competition as a team, and a lot of combinations were not familiar to coaches and players. The captain Riley Norton says in that context the team can only get better....

“A lot of our combinations and players have not played together and to have these 3 games against proper opposition in high pressure moments right before the world cup is vital for us so the lessons we learned and the relationships we built on and off the field and it's one of the things we talk about is building trust with the person alongside you because in tough times that will go a long way”.

--ChannelAfrica--