The Junior Springboks will face Georgia, Argentina and a Namibian XV as part of their preparations for the World Rugby U20 Championship in Argentina in June.

Each team will face one another once over three rounds of matches on 9, 13 and 17 April in a similar format to the pool stage of the U20 Championship, where they will play a match every four days.

Argentina and the Namibia XV, which will be a senior side, will kick off the series at Paarl Gymnasium, with the Junior Springboks lining up against Georgia, who they will also meet in their U20 Championship group.

The second round of matches will see the SA U20s take on the Namibia XV, and Georgia meet Argentina at Tygerberg Rugby Club in Ravensmead.

The final round, at Paul Roos Gymnasium in Stellenbosch, will pit the Junior Boks against Argentina, and Georgia against the Namibia XV.

Junior Boks coach Chean Roux, who has been guiding the SA Rugby Academy squad in Stellenbosch since February, will announce his squad for the camp late next week.

The squad, which will continue to form part of the SA Rugby Academy, will gather in Stellenbosch on 31 March, with the camp running until 18 April.

‘The International Series will serve as a fantastic opportunity for the players to prove themselves with an eye on the World Rugby U20 Championship,’ Roux said.

‘After working with a host of players as part of the SA Rugby Academy, these matches will give us as coaches another idea which players have the potential to make the final 28-man squad to be selected after the series.

‘Argentina and Georgia are participating in the U20 Championship this year, and the Argentinians are hosting the showpiece, so this series will be equally important for their preparations. Georgia faced us in SA last year, so we are looking forward to welcoming them back. We are expecting a challenging, yet exciting series.’

The Junior Boks will kick off their U20 Championship campaign against Scotland on 4 June, before taking on Georgia (8 June) and New Zealand (12 June) in the pool stage.

U20 International Series fixtures:

Tuesday, 9 April (Paarl Gymnasium)
Argentina vs Namibia XV
Georgia vs Junior Springboks

Saturday, 13 April (Tygerberg Rugby Club)
Georgia vs Argentina
Junior Springboks vs Namibia XV

Wednesday, 17 April (Paul Roos Gymnasium)
Georgia vs Namibia XV
Junior Springboks vs Argentina

Photo: Manuel Blondeau/Getty Images