Siphosethu Mnebelele and Vusi Moyo have been dreaming of playing rugby for South Africa since their early high school days at King Edward VII School KES in Johannesburg.
Now the two schoolboy friends are forming an integral part of the Junior Springboks World Rugby U-20 Championship campaign in Italy.
Mnebelele, a former South African Schools captain, and Moyo have been stalwarts for the Junior Boks as they seek to advance to their first final since 2014.
Such a feat would provide their first U-20 world champs triumph since the Handr Pollard, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Steven Kitshoff inspired victory in 2012 at a packed Newlands in Cape Town.
The Junior Boks progressed to the semifinals on the back of three impressive victories in the group stage over Australia, defending champions England and Scotland.