Under-18 Internationals Come to an End
The third and final round of the Under-18 International Series ends at Hoërskool Hugenote in Wellington on Saturday. As in the pervious two rounds, there will be three matches involving all six teams - Argentina Under-18, England Under-18, France Under-18, South African Schools and South African Schools A.
SA Schools are the only side to have won both of their matches, England and France have each won once while SA Schools A and Wales are winless so far after drawing with each other.
The weather in the lovely town of Wellington, which had been Wagenmakersvallei until the Duke of Wellington beat Napoleon and his name proliferated.
It seems that Wellington will bless the young players with excellent weather - unhampered sunshine with a high of 24°C, dropping to 12°C.
Results, Round 1
France Under-18 vs South African Schools A, 43-19
Argentina Under-18 vs England Under-18, 29-19
South African Schools vs Wales Under-18, 23-13
Results, Round 2
SA Schools A vs Wales, 31-31
SA Schools vs Argentina Under-18, 48-14
England Under-18 vs France, 29-25
Fixtures, Round 3 - Saturday at Hugenote High School in Wellington
11.15: SA Schools A vs Argentina
12.50: France vs Wales
14.25: SA Schools vs England
All three matches will be broadcast live on television - SuperSport Channel 210.
SA Schools A vs Argentina
Argentina started the tournament so well with a convincing win over England but they then suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of South African Schools when they looked nothing like the team that had beaten England.
SA Schools A came back from behind to draw with a Welsh side that had done well against SA School in their peeing fixture.
This match could be a close one.
The Schools A side called up to players for their second match - Tiaan Pretorius and prop Lukhanyo Vokozela who is known as the Rondebosch Rhino. Now they have called up Paarl Boys' High hooker Allister Williams after the injury to Dima Lebelo.
Teams
SA Schools A: 15 Jacques Rossouw, 14 Nsuku Baloyi, 13 Tiaan Pretorius, 12 AJ Johnson, 11 Joseph Iye, 10 Sihlalo Benge, 9 Kabelo Mokheti, 8 Jarod Cairns (captain), 7 Renzo du Plessis, 6 Sisonke Vumazonke, 5 Marco van Rhyn, 4 Raynard Roets, 3 Gerhard van der Merwe, 2 Teague Loelly, 1 Lukhanyo Vokozela
Replacements: 16 Allister Williams, 17 Rynhardt Rijnsburger, 18 Philip Masango, 19 Izan Esterhuizen, 20 Josh van Vreden, 21 Daimon O’Connell, 22 Indiphile Tyeda, 23 Sonwabo Sokoyi, 24 Corné Rahl, 25 Pierich Siebert, 26 Sibusiso Javu
Argentina: tba
Referee: Manuel Bottino (Italy)
Assistant referees: Local
Television match official: Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)
France vs Wales
France, who claim to be really an Under-17 team, were excellent against SA Schools A but were well beaten by England whose forwards were too strong.
Last year France won this fixture 52-7 but during the Six Nations Wales won.
France have made wholesale changes to their starting team for the Wales match - 11 in fact, including a positional switch. Those still starting are captain L Nolann Le Garrec, No.8 Théo Ntamack, flank Baptiste Prcanovic and prop Thomas Cretu while Mathéo Garcia moves from fullback to flyhalf.
Teams
France Under-18: 15 Logan Tabet, 14 Enzo Lanzutti, 13 Philippe Savelli, 12 Ethan Randle, 11 Jessy Maizier, 10 Mathéo Garcia, 9 Nolann Le Garrec (captain), 8 Théo Ntamack, 7 Kilian Tixeront, 6 Baptiste Prcanovic, 5 Wesley Lindor, 4 Noah Kanika, 3 Thomas Cretu, 2 Sacha Idoumi, 1 Thomas Moukoro
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Boudou, 17 Victor Montgaillard, 18 Thomas Kolokilagi, 19 Mathéo Desjeux, 20 Mahamadou Coulibaly, 21 Maxime Baudonne, 22 , 23 Paul Jambon, 24 Paul Jambon, 25 Louis Foursans Bourdette, 26 Léo Barré, 27 Éric Boussard
Wales Under-18: 15 Dan John, 14 Jake Thomas, 13 Mason Grady, 12 Joe Hawkins, 11 Morgan Richards, 10 Tom Mathews, 9 Luke Davies,
8 Peter Vickers, 7 Alex Mann, 6 Travis Huntley, 5 Ben Carter (captain), 4 James Fender, 3 Archie Griffin, 2 Oliver Burrows, 1 Kieran Stevens
Replacements: 16 Rhodri King, 17 Theo Bevacqua, 18 Lewys Jones, 19 Christ Tshiunza, 20 Rhys Thomas, 21 Ollie Howard, 22 Bradley Roderick, 23 Jake Morgan, 24 Carrick McDonough, 25 Ben Burnell
Referee: Morné Ferreira (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Local
Television match official: Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)
SA Schools vs England
In 2018, England Under-18 went winless in South Africa, beaten by France, Wales and South African Schools. The schools match was, as it is this year, the final match of the tournament. SA Schools won 41-22 at SACS. After the results against Argentina, SA Schools would be favourites to beat England this year. Certainly, if the Schools backs get the ball they are able to sow havoc.
Teams
SA Schools: 5 Zeilinga Strydom, 14 Boldwin Hansen, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Tyler Bocks, 11 Tharquinn Manuel, 10 Kian Meadon, 9 Dylan Alexander, 8 George Cronje (Captain), 7 Jarrod Taylor, 6 Keketso Morabe, 5 Dylan de Leeuw, 4 Simon Miller, 3 Sibusiso Shongwe, 2 Andre-Hugo Venter, 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels
Replacements: 16 Jacques Goosen, 17 Okuhle Siyeni, 18 Blaine Golden, 19 Wandile Hlope, 20 Mntungwa Mapantsela, 21 Keane Galant, 23 Jurich Claasens, 24 Quan Horn, 25 Gideon van Wyk, 26 Connor Evans
England Under-18: 15 Oliver Melville, 14 Matthew Ward, 13 Will Joseph, 12 Louis Hillman-Cooper, 11 Alex Harmes, 10 Orlando Bailey, 9 Sam Edwards, 8 Kit Smith, 7 Harry Taylor, 6 Emeka Ilione (captain), 5 Ethan Staddon, 4 Freddie Thomas, 3 Fin Baxter, 2 John Stewart, 1 Phil Brantingham
Replacements: 16 Tarek Haffar, 17 Joe Keohane, 18 Ewan Richards, 19 Daniel Eckersley, 20 Will Trenholm, 21 Sam Bryan, 22 Ethan Grayson, 23 Michael Dykes, 24 Oscar Beard, 25 Charlie Atkinson
Referee: Adam Jones (Wales)
Assistant referees: Manuel Bottino (Italy), Local
Television match official: Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)