White set to unleash 'Baby Bulls' on Wales

Johannesburg - The South Africa under-21 team may have been unrestrained exhibitionists in their 102-10 victory over Canada on Tuesday, but coach Jake White believes his cards are still welded to his chest.

He holds the firm view that the Baby Boks had not "revealed too much" in their victories over the Canadians and Ireland (36-27) at the IRB under-21 World Cup in England.

"You can't give too much away in your first two matches in this tournament," White said yesterday.

His inference has everything to do with the unused personnel at his disposal. He is yet to unleash two Bulls backs, scrumhalf Fourie du Preez and centre Dewey Swartbooi.

"I thought it best not to use them in the first two matches because they had played in the Super 12," he explained.

However, White has to give serious consideration to their inclusion in his team for Saturday night's clash with Wales, one of only four unbeaten teams after the two rounds of fixtures.

"I don't know if I'm going to include them. We'll see. Wales are a good side. They are the Six Nations under-21 champions and the highest-ranked team from the northern hemisphere.

"The competition has so far panned out the way the organisers intended, because the top four seeds are unbeaten.

"I was a bit surprised that Wales beat Argentina (24-18) on Tuesday. I thought the Argentinian forwards were going to be too big (for the Welsh to cope with)," White admitted.

He also said he believed his team could have been a bit tighter in the second half of their first game against Ireland. "We led 26-12 at halftime and the guys thought they had the victory in the bag. However, Ireland came back at us (the final score was 36-27).

"I was very pleased with our second match because we needed to win well. Argentina had beaten Canada by 60 points, so if they beat Wales too, they would have topped the standings.

"I would rather that my team have an air of invincibility about them and have the respect of the other teams," White said.

As defending under-21 champions and reigning under-19 champions of the world, South Africa are held in high regard. "They really look up to us (at the under-21 World Cup)," White quipped gleefully.