Publications
Partners
The South African Under-18 Sevens Rugby team has promised to go all out when they take on the world’s best rugby nations at the Youth Olympic Games in Argentina.
The event began on Saturday and will end on October 18.
The rugby team will play their first match against Japan, then take on France. Both games will take place on Saturday.
Marius Schoeman’s team booked their place after successfully defending their African title in Algeria in July. They beat Namibia 32-12 in the final of the African Youth Games.
“We have worked so hard to be where we are,” said one of the outstanding players, Ofentse Maubane.
“We have ticked all the boxes this year to make this a reality.”
The Curro Heuwelkruin Grade 12 pupil said he was looking forward to competing in his first Youth Olympic Games.
“We have not lost a match since playing Argentina in Cape Town in October 2017.”
The national junior rugby team defended their title in Windhoek after they conquered Germany 46-0 in the final to finish the International Sevens Tournament unbeaten.
“If you look closely at our games, we don’t concede many tries, which is good for us.”
The versatile Lebowakgomo, Limpopo-born athlete explained that, to do well for the team, you need to be exceptional and, most importantly, understand the coach’s system.
Team SA is made up of athletics, which has the highest number of representatives with 16, followed by rugby sevens with 12 and then hockey with nine.
One of the athletes to watch is 17-year-old Gontse Morake. In April, she set a new South African age group record in the 400m hurdles of the U18 Youth & U20 Junior Championships in Paarl, Western Cape.
She clocked in at 57.81 seconds and chopped the previous record of 57.91 set by Gezelle Magerman at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China.
