Liam Koen starts as one of three uncapped players in the Junior Springboks lineup for their U20 Championship opener against Fiji at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.

Koen, the son of former Springbok flyhalf Louis Koen, partners scrumhalf Asad Moos in a new-look halfback pairing.

Meanwhile, Luca Bakkes will make his run-on debut and packs down in the front row between props Ruan Swart and captain Zachary Porthen. Outside back Likhona Finca is set to make his debut off the bench.

Otherwise, the rest of the Junior Boks have a settled look with the rest of the starting lineup and replacements consisting of players who participated in the recent U20 Rugby Championship in Queensland, Australia.

The starting XV has five changes and a positional switch from the run-on side that beat Argentina in the last Rugby Championship match at the Sunshine Coast Stadium in Queensland, while there are several tweaks among the reserves.

Apart from Bakkes’ inclusion in the front row in place of Juan Smal, there is also a change at No 4 lock, with Thomas Dyer sitting out because of a niggle and the versatile Bathobele Hlekani moves from the side of the scrum to second row with JF van Heerden.

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Thabang Mphafi, who played off the bench against Argentina U20s, fills Hlekani’s position at No 7 flank, with Siba Mahashe (No 6) and Tiaan Jacobs (No 8) the rest of the loose forwards.

The only other backline change sees Michail Damon in at fullback, in place of Bruce Sherwood who donned the No 15 jersey in their previous match.

Head coach Bafana Nhleko said the team has worked hard over the past week and worked on the lessons from the Rugby Championship in Australia, and they are ready to meet the challenge of Fiji this week.

“We had a good holding camp in Stellenbosch last week and, since our move to our tournament base in Green Point on Tuesday, the focus has been on fine-tuning preparations,” the head coach said.

“Fiji are a team with threats all round the park, big strong boys with excellent balls skills and dangerous with ball in hand. You need to be on it for 80 minutes, concentration wise, to deal with their threats.

“For us, it’s about excelling in our fundamentals, maintaining our strengths around playing from set piece and being in a position to make the right decisions when there are opportunities. The contact area behaviours will be key on both sides of the ball.” Nhleko said.

The match is the first of three Pool C matches for the Junior Boks, whose other group games are against Argentina and England.

Meanwhile, the squad also had to make three replacements because of recent injuries. Prop Reno Hirst, lock Adam de Waal and fullback JC Marsh will all miss the Championship through injury.

Hirst hurt his knee; De Waal has been ruled out with a hip injury while concussion means Mars will miss at least the first two matches. Their replacements are Herman Lubbe (prop, WP), Jaco Grobbelaar (lock, Vodacom Bulls) and Hassiem Pead (fullback, WP).

“It’s unfortunate when injuries happen especially for guys like Adam and Reno, who worked so hard (from previous injuries) to give themselves a shot at the competition, but it is part of the game, we wish them a speedy recovery,” said Nhleko.

“JC could still feature later in the competition and potentially, has next year as well. In the same breath, it’s great to welcome Hassiem back to the squad and Jaco, who missed the Australia tour due to injury – congratulations to both and we are excited to see their growth.”

Junior Springboks – 15 Michail Damon, 14 Joel Leotlela, 13 Jurenzo Julius, 12 Joshua Boulle, 11 Litelihle Bester, 10 Liam Koen, 9 Asad Moos, 8 Tiaan Jacobs, 7 Thabang Mphafi, 6 Sibabalwe Mahashe, 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Bathobele Hlekani, 3 Zachary Porthen (c), 2 Luca Bakkes, 1 Ruan Swart.
Subs: 16 Juan Smal, 17 Liyema Ntshanga, 18 Casper Badenhorst, 19 Keanu Coetsee, 20 Divan Fuller, 21 Ezekiel Ngobeni, 22 Tylor Sefoor, 23 Likhona Finca.

Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images

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Src: sarugbymag.co.za