Mnebelele and Junior Boks know what’s coming from Argentina

Siphosethu Mnebelele and Vusi Moyo have been dreaming of playing rugby for South Africa since their early high school days at King Edward VII School (KES) in Johannesburg and now, the two schoolboy friends are forming an integral part of the Junior Springboks’ World Rugby U20 Championship campaign in Italy.

Mnebelele, a former SA Schools captain, along with Moyo, have been stalwarts for the Junior Boks so far as they seek to advance to their first Championship final since 2014 and their first triumph since the Handre Pollard, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Steven Kitshoff inspired victory in 2012 at a packed Newlands in Cape Town.

The Junior Boks progressed to the semi-finals on the back of three impressive victories in the group stage over Australia, defending champions England, and Scotland. On Monday evening, they face fellow southern hemisphere rivals Argentina in Viadana for a spot in the 2025 final.

Speaking to the media at the team announcement for the Argentina semi-final, Mnebelele recalled how he and Moyo dreamed of higher honours while enjoying their schoolboy rugby days.

“We spoke the other day about how we often said to each other how great it would be to, when we are older, maybe achieve national honours for the country,” said Mnebelele, whose nickname is “Esethu”.

“Vusi and I have been playing together since our early high school days for the Golden Lions and last year we both played for the SA Schools side as well as the SA Under-18 team (in the international series featuring England, Ireland, and Georgia).

“And now here we are, playing together for the Junior Boks, which is a dream come true, really. Playing for the Junior Boks is a huge honour and something we don’t take for granted.”

The soft-spoken Mnebelele and Moyo are both part of the SA U20 leadership group in Italy. Looking forward to the all-important semi-final against Argentina, the hard-working hooker said they know what to expect from the South Americans.

“They are really good with their set piece, on attack and defence, they are direct and play with a lot of passion,” he said. “We have done our homework on them and had a good week of preparation, fixing what went wrong against them in the Rugby Championship.

“Coach (Kevin Foote) used to tell us how tough our group would be as soon as our camp started back home in Stellenbosch. Looking back over the last three weeks, I believe our tough group has prepared us well for the knock-out stages. However, those games are behind us, and we will have to work very hard against Argentina, who is a quality side.”

Moyo is currently the tournament’s leading points scorer with 34 points, while Junior Bok scrumhalf Haashim Pead leads the try-scoring list with five tries.

South Africa’s semi-final against Argentina kicks off at 8.30pm and will be broadcast live on SuperSport. It will be preceded by the first semi-final, at 6pm between New Zealand and France.

Junior Springbok starting XV: 15 Gilermo Mentoe, 14 Cheswill Jooste, 13 Demitre Erasmus, 12 Albie Bester, 11 Jaco Williams; 10 Vusi Moyo, 9 Haashim Pead; 8 Wandile Mlaba, 7 Bathobele Hlekani, 6 Xola Nyali; 5 JJ Theron, 4 Riley Norton (capt); 3 Herman Lubbe, 2 Siphosethu Mnebelele, 1 Simphiwe Ngobese. Replacements: 16 Jaundré Schoeman, 17 Oliver Reid, 18 Jean Erasmus, 19 Jaco Grobbelaar, 20 Matt Romao, 21 Ceano Everson, 22 Dominic Malgas, 23 Stephanus Linde.