South African Rugby
Mitchell urges Boks to take time with Jantjies
Scrum.com
September 20, 2010
Lions fly-half Elton Jantjies kicks a conversion, Golden Lions v Leopards, Currie Cup, Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg, South Africa, August 27, 2010
Lions No.10 Elton Jantjies has lit up this season's Currie Cup with a string of brilliant performances © Getty Images
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The Springboks should wait until after next year's Super Rugby series before handing an international debut to promising fly-half Elton Jantjies, according to Lions coach John Mitchell.

The 20-year-old Jantjies has been in sensational form for his province in this season's Currie Cup and there have been widespread calls for him to be included in the South Africa squad for the end-of-year tour to Europe. However, while Mitchell does not doubt Jantjies' ability, he believes that it would be a mistake to expose him to the Test arena at such a tender age.

"He's a very young fly-half and I know he's been written up, but I believe he first needs to play a season of Super Rugby before he becomes an international," the New Zealander said.

"He's got a great future, an outstanding one, but we'd be naive to push him into international rugby straight away when he'll definitely get there over time anyway."

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