Junior Boks coach Nhleko asks for improvement as they prepare to face Ireland

As they prepare to take on Ireland in their second match of the Six Nations Under-20 Summer Series in Italy on Wednesday, Junior Springbok coach Bafana Nhleko is asking for an improvement in performance from his charges.

The Junior Boks started the tournament with a 30-22 victory over England U-20 in their opening pool match on Friday night in Verona but Nhleko wants them to up the tempo as the tournament progresses.

“After our first game, some of our boys were quite happy with the win,” Nhleko said.

“You could see it was our first game and you could also see it was England’s first game. We were a bit rusty in many ways and the important thing was just to get through the game and we are quite happy with the win in itself.

“Performance-wise we were not quite where we needed to be and it’s not being harsh or critical. I am happy for the boys but there are lots of things that we could do better and that is part of the learning curve for the boys.”

Fly-half and team captain Sacha Mngomezulu delivered an eye-catching performance against England, opting to kick in the early stages as SA settled into the contest before a more expansive and aggressive running game took shape.

“It’s a bit early to give away the secrets but we know what he’s capable of,” Nhleko said on his captain’s tactics.

“The biggest thing for the boys in this game, which I’m quite happy about, is that any kick is only as good as the chase, and I thought the chase from Sully [Hartzenberg] was pretty good and that gave us a bit of belief in the game.”

Mngomezulu’s next brief is to lead his side against Six Nations champions Ireland and Nhleko wants his charges to raise their game as they look to make it two wins from two and set up a potential group decider against France next week.

“It doesn’t get any easier, with the top two in the Six Nations, so that’s going to be tough,” Nhleko said.

“What’s important for us is how we recover and to get our details right so we are physically and mentally up for the next one. I think the boys now know the level that’s required for them to perform here.

“We saw [on Friday] that if you don’t take your opportunities, you suffer. If your discipline isn’t there, you suffer. So there’s a couple things we need to sharpen up on.”

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