/ 6 July 1999

Future Springboks on display

MONDAY, 12.30PM:

THE Isak Steyl stadium in Vanderbijlpark will be playing host to the biggest ever Coca Cola Under-19 Craven Week rugby tournament which kicks off on Monday.

A total of 720 players, playing in 36 teams will be in action at the tournament, leaving much to do for the selectors in order to choose a group of future Springboks.

Provinces are represented at A, Academy and Country Districts levels, with a South African Special Schools XV and a South African Rugby Schools Association Academy side also on display. Teams from Namibia and Zimbabwe will also take part.

There will be no official final, but a South African Schools and a South African Schools Academy side will be picked after the tournament.

These two sides will play against each other as a curtain raiser to the Tri-Nations clash between South Africa and Australia at Ellis Park on August 22.

In the first match on Monday, the Free State Academy beat their Gauteng Falcons counterparts 24-15 in the Craven Week opener at the Isak Steyl Stadium.