Junior Boks’ struggles continue as Argentina battle awaits in U20 Championship

Litelihle Bester of South Africa U20 and Henry Pollock of England U20 during the World Rugby U20 Championship 2024 match between South Africa and England at Athlone Stadium on July 09, 2024 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images)

By Keanan Hemmonsbey

11 Jul 2024

For the second year in a row, South Africa Under-20 have grappled with the weather at home.

For the first time since 2011, South Africa Under-20 will not contest the semifinals of the Under-20 Championship after losing consecutive pool matches to Argentina and England.

After finishing ninth overall, the Baby Boks next take on Argentina again on Sunday in a fifth-place semifinal showdown at Cape Town Stadium.

It’s a second successive disappointing group-stage showing by the Junior Springboks.

Last year they scraped past Georgia late by 10 points before losing 34-26 to Italy in rainy conditions and then getting through to the semifinals by beating Argentina 24-16.

They were completely outplayed 31-12 by Ireland in the semifinal before coming away with a third-place finish after getting past England 22-15.

It was a tough campaign with favourable results allowing them a passage into the knockouts.

This year, the side have had no such luck, with lacklustre performances justifying their final position.

Junior Boks JF van Heerden of South Africa and England's Joe Bailey compete for lineout ball during their U20 Championship clash. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman / Gallo Images)

“Disappointing is an understatement,” head coach Bafana Nhleko said after the 17-12 loss to England on Tuesday. “The pain that we’re all feeling is very raw at the moment.

“We want to win, and sometimes that gets lost when I keep saying this is a player development programme – we want to win. I’m broken, I’m gutted that we haven’t won against England and are not in the semifinals of this competition.

“It stings because I’m the coach and we are not in the semifinals. It’s also important to understand that this is part of our growth at this point in time.

“We are extremely disappointed. We want to do well. When we started this journey, we spoke about wanting to be there in the final game on July 19.”

Preparation

This year, for the first time, the Junior Boks had competitive matches to prepare for the Under-20 Championship after they played in the Sanzaar U20 Rugby Championship against Argentina, Australia and New Zealand.

South Africa beat Argentina 30-28 in the Sunshine Coast, where the Junior Rugby Championship was held – their only victory in the tournament – tied with New Zealand and lost to Australia.

Despite this, outside of their opening 57-7 win over Fiji, the Baby Boks have struggled with physicality and set pieces in the tournament.

Junior Bok coach Bafana Nhleko during the captain's run at Hamilton Rugby Club in Cape Town on 3 July 2024. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman / Gallo Images)

Like last year, the conditions in the Western Cape have been torrential with gusty winds and incessant rain affecting the fields and forcing a close contact battle.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Baby Boks’ U20 Championship semifinals dream dashed after loss to England

South Africa were tied with England until after the final siren when the English rumbled over with a maul try in the 86th minute.

“We expected the conditions,” Nhleko said. “We played them quite well. Our maul stop compared to the Argentina game was a lot better, our scrum is really anchoring quite well,” he added, despite the result.

“Our backs didn’t really get in the game against Argentina, [against England] they did.

“All those things I thought we did okay.”

Litelihle Bester of South Africa is challenged by Henry Pollock of England in their U20 Championship match. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman / Gallo Images)

Positives

Despite the uninspiring results, Nhleko acknowledged that it has not been all doom for his side in terms of performance.

“The biggest thing for us, when we actually get going with the things we actually want to do and how we want to impose ourselves, we play good rugby and we do good things,” he said.

“Our biggest challenge has been the pressure release where we do good things and then we release a bit of pressure and that saps our energy.

“When we do put it together it does look the part.”

The Junior Boks’ best possible finish at the U20 Championship is fifth place, but they will need a much better performance, particularly at the breakdown and maul against Argentina, who beat them 31-12 a week ago.

“Stop them from scoring maul tries and maybe we score a few more tries, that’s the simplest plan,” Nhleko said about where his team needed to improve against the South Americans.

“We’ve looked at the game against Argentina and I’ve mentioned it, it was a very strange game.

“Most of their penalties came from us being in their 22m or 10m. Can we be a bit more patient or clinical in their half? If we can get that right we’ll be good for it.” DM

The fifth-place semifinal between Argentina and South Africa kicks off at 2pm on Sunday at Cape Town Stadium.

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Preparation

Positives