Coach Kevin Foote reflects on Junior Boks’ promising path in PE

By Lonwabo Miso
12th May 2025

Junior Springbok coach Kevin Foote says that although the team didn’t get the results they wanted, they are firmly on the right track.

South Africa held a narrow 26-24 lead at halftime, but New Zealand edged ahead in the second half to secure a 48-45 win in Gqeberha.

He believes the group is on an important journey, with players who understand and are committed to their game model.

"The first thing is we are on a massive journey together, you know. Some of us have only met each other, I only met Riley [Norton] a couple of months ago. So, we are definitely working hard on our game, I think we have five principles that everybody sort of understands now,” Foote said.

“I think that from a character perspective and a leadership perspective we are firing and the lessons that we are learning here are gonna be great for us going forward. So, yeah there are definitely aspects in our game that we haven't got everything together all in the same game but having said that, I'd rather that comes together in June/July than now."

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Foote praised the attacking improvements and the work done by backline coach Melusi Mthethwa.

He said the team has made big strides.

"Huge, huge, I think we scored some amazing tries. I think Melusi has done an amazing job there and I really have got good clarity of how we wanna attack and I think that we played some exciting, brilliant rugby in this tournament and just the crowd getting behind us and the support when we started to really lighten up was exceptional," he added.

Foote says the coaching team is eager to send some players back to their provincial unions for game time in the SA Rugby U21 Cup.

He believes this exposure is key for development.

"Obviously, we'll take case for case but generally we think it will be a good idea for the guys to keep playing. I think the U21 competition is a really strong competition, I think the coaches are really good in the competition and they coach well. If the guys can keep playing and keep the fitness up because we've seen just the speed of test match rugby."