The Baby Boks will be looking for a full five-point haul when they take on Scotland on Tuesday the 4th of June in their Round 1 Under 20 Championship clash.
Chean Roux’s ‘Baby Boks’ will be looking for a fast start to their 2019 IRB Under 20 Championship when they take on Scotland in the day’s opener. The South Africans need to get a big point haul from this one as they are paired in the same group as New Zealand, who will also be gunning for top spot.
South Africa v Scotland
Racecourse Stadium
15:30
To Win (80 Mins)
South Africa 1/20
Draw 25/1
Scotland 15/2
Handicap
South Africa (-19.5) 17/20
Scotland (-19.5) 17/20
South Africa
The Baby Boks have had a rather poor build-up to the tournament going down to England 35-8 and narrowly beating Wales 35-31 in Europe before returning home to beat Georgia and then go down by a point to Argentina in Stellenbosch.
Coach Chean Roux has been hard at work trying to iron out the floors in his side’s game, and a lot of focus will have gone into their defensive structure which was found wanting during the past two months.
This South African side has a decent amount of experienced campaigners in it with four returnees from last year’s tournament plus Blitzbok Angelo Davids all set to be involved in the opener.
Scotland
Like the Junior Boks, Scotland’s Under 20’s haven’t had the best of year’s thus far finishing the Junior Six Nations at the foot of the table with only a 27-20 win over the Welsh to show from their five fixtures. They conceded a bucket load of points at the tournament and will need to sure up the defensive side of their game if they are to avoid an embarrassing opening round defeat.
The Scots had a dire 2018 Under 20 Championship failing to register a group phase win while finishing the event in 10th spot. This would have been a massive disappointment for them as they had finished in fifth place at the previous two editions of the event.
Verdict: South Africa (-19.5) 17/20
If Roux can find the right balance with his team selection then I think the ‘Scots will be in for a long old afternoon. My money is on the Baby Bok winning this one by 16 points or more.
