'Brains trust': NZ U20 assistant highlights players to look out for in future

The New Zealand U20’s will take on South Africa in the final of the World U20 Championship this Sunday at 6:30 am NZT.

This comes after the Kiwis were able to overcome a tough test in the semi-final against last year’s runners-up, France, 34-26, in Viadana.

The Kiwis are guaranteed to improve on last year’s third-place finish in France, but are coming up against a tough and physical South Africa side who beat Argentina 48-24 in the semi-final.

Assistant coach Dave Dillon, who recently left his role as the Highlanders’ defence coach to pursue other coaching opportunities, says that the team are in good form in Italy.

“Yeah, now the boys are in good form. I guess one big thing is we’ve got a really tight group, and we’ve really enjoyed each other’s company on and off the field, and to be where we are and where we looked at the start, we’re pretty happy,” Dillon told Sport Nation’s Millsy and Guy radio show.

Dillon tells Guy Heveldt from Sport Nation that the French brought a tough challenge, and they’ll have to tidy up team discipline if they want to beat South Africa in the final.

“Yeah, well, they’re a big side and over the last seven years they’ve been there or thereabouts in the final or winning it, so we were stoked to get that result.

“Well, I think for a performance like that, when we were down to 13 men for a big part of that game, and then 14 men.

“So we’ve got to tidy up around that discipline with cards leading into the final, but it’s your team culture, so it’s what you do when you bring the team together, and then how you keep feeding that, and what you do on and off the field.

“I think that’s shown through in terms of when we needed to dig deep, as you just mentioned before, we were able to, and we just hung in there.”

When asked about which players in particular we should be looking out for in the future, Dillon was quick to praise three of New Zealand’s game drivers at U20 level.

“Well, I think our 9-10 combinations are pretty strong, young Dylan Pledger at nine, he sees things other players don’t see, he’s a little general.

“We have got two No.10’s who can both play 15 in Will Cole and Rico Simpson. So they’re the brain trust in terms of getting us around the field and making decisions.

“Then there are a lot of other good players, as you can imagine, it’s New Zealand under 20s, and a breeding ground of great footy players.

“So I would imagine that a lot of these guys would come through moving forward into Super Rugby, and hopefully a few of them into the All Blacks.”

Dillon admits that with the tight five-day turnarounds, the coaching staff have been made to use every squad member that is in Italy.

“Well, I think when you look at the squad, I mean, the boys have done a lot of work to just even get here, and you’re only as strong as every member within your squad, so you can’t afford to drop any games.

“So that selection process has been done for the group to get over here with our under-20s tournament, all the conversations and work have been done, and camps allow us to have a good balance in the squad and good depth in the squad.

“We’ve been able to use every squad member.”