2012 U20 World Championship-winning coach Dawie Theron has provided the Junior Springboks with sage advice on how to win the tournament on home soil.
Theron was in charge when South Africa last hosted the U20 Championship and his Junior Bok side went all the way to claim the title at home for the first time.
That campaign was the springboard for plenty of successful careers, with Handre Pollard, Steven Kitshoff and Pieter-Steph du Toit going on to help the Springboks win the World Cup in 2019.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW: 2012 Junior Springboks
Since then, it has been a case of close, but no cigar for the U20s, with a silver and five bronze medals following, but they were crowned champions of the U20 Six Nations Summer Series in Italy last year.
The U20 Championship is back in South Africa and in an interview with BokSquad, Theron backed the Junior Boks to once again claim gold.
“I think we have a very well-balanced side, we just need to give them a chance to grow,” Theron told BokSquad. “We haven’t seen the Junior Boks play under pressure since 2019 [due to Covid-19 lockdown] so it will be interesting to see how they handle that aspect of it.
“I’m not saying you don’t care if we win or lose, you just have to be aware of how big this tournament can get. All of a sudden, these youngsters are getting a lot of attention and there’s a lot of hype, especially in South Africa where people love the game so much. So you’ve got to manage that and take the burden off the players’ shoulders.
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“Encourage them to enjoy the process and the tournament as a whole. Make sure there are a lot of things you can enjoy together as a team off the field.
“If you can put all those things together, and encourage the guys to express themselves on the field and not be scared to make mistakes, you can win the tournament.”
The U20 World Championship kicks off on 24 June, with the hosts starting their campaign against Georgia at the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch.
Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images
