Junior Springbok centre Markus Muller believes the exposure he and several teammates gained with the senior national set-up has raised the standard of their entire squad.
The 18-year-old is among a group of Junior Boks who trained with the Springboks and featured for South Africa A against Zimbabwe recently. He says bringing that experience back into the South Africa U20 fold has been invaluable.
“Taking the intensity of those training sessions, how the game is thought about and the analyses, from the Springbok environment and then bringing it to the Junior Boks is something that I believe helps a lot,” Muller was quoted by Netwerk24.
“We can help raise the standard.”
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The Stormers midfielder recalls being humbled by a brutal fitness test on his first day with the senior group, made tougher by altitude.
“I think the thing that will always stay with me was the fitness test on the first day. It was tough, especially with the air pressure in Johannesburg which really got the lungs going, but it was a good experience.”
That exposure comes into focus again on Thursday, when Muller shifts from his favoured outside centre to inside centre for the Junior Boks’ Junior World Championship clash against hosts Georgia, with regular No 12 Ethan Adams ruled out through injury.
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Muller also praised his developing partnership with Samuel Badenhorst, who moves into outside centre: “I’m really looking forward to it [playing No 12]. It’s a bit of a different role in terms of decision-making and it’s also been great working with Samuel so far.
“He can also fit in at inside centre and I think we form a nice combination with good communication between us.”
Photo: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images
The post How Boks helped Muller boost SA U20s appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Junior Springbok centre Markus Muller believes the exposure he and several teammates gained with the senior national set-up has raised the standard of their entire squad.
The post How Boks helped Muller boost SA U20s appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
