Junior Boks made to sweat by Georgia

The Junior Springboks have won their second round Junior World Championship match against Georgia, but the tournament hosts made the defending champions work very hard for their 33-5 victory (half-time 12-5) in Tbilisi on Thursday evening.

The SA U20s had a sluggish start to the match, with a fired-up Georgian side playing their typical physical game and putting the South Africans under pressure in the process.

Georgia's discipline let them down though - in the second half, they only had their full compliment of 15 players on the field for the last 10 minutes - while the Junior Boks remained composed and showed character by not getting involved in the scrap, while their pack also grew in confidence and put the hosts on the backfoot in the set pieces.

Pinned in their own half, the SA U20s were on the defence early in the game, and five minutes after missing a penalty shot at goal, Georgia scored the first points in the eighth minute when they played wide from a line-out, with Luka Tabatadze (wing) crossing in the corner for an unconverted try.

The Junior Boks remained patient though and didn't panic, sticking to their structures and game plan. They were rewarded in the second quarter when SA U20 captain Siphosethu Mnebelele (hooker) scored twice from driving mauls, in the 22nd and 33rd minutes, with flyhalf Luan Giliomee's conversion of the second try making it 12-5.

Both teams continued to grind hard and the South Africans were denied at the death, shortly after Georgian tighthead prop Levani Ezieshvili was sent to the bin for a high tackle on Giliomee. The card was upgraded to a 20-minute red at the start of the second half.

Twenty seconds into the half, Tabatadze was yellow carded for a deliberate knock-down, leaving them with only 13 players on the field. Despite the numerical disadvantage, the Georgians didn't let up and kept on hammering away at the SA attack.

However, by now the Junior Bok pack had the upper hand against the seven Georgian forwards, and in the 53rd minute, playing on the front foot, a perfect Giliomee cross-kick found Cheswill Jooste (wing) for their third try, converted by the SA U20 flyhalf.

A few minutes later, Daviti Tsiklauri (scrumhalf) was yellow carded for repeated infringements on their own try-line and while the Georgians were getting ready to defend a line-out, Giliomee showed some individual brilliance by taking a quick-tap and scoring the Junior Boks' fourth try, which he also converted to make it 26-5 with 20 minutes to go.

The game turned a bit scrappy towards end but the Junior Boks had the last say when Luke Cannon (flanker) scored their fifth try with just over a minute to go. Alzeadon Felix (replacement flyhalf) converted to make it 33-5.

Score

Georgia U20 5 (5) - Try: Luka Tabatadze.

Junior Springboks 33 (12) - Tries: Siphosethu Mnebelele (2), Cheswill Jooste, Luan Giliomee, Luke Cannon. Conversions: Giliomee (3), Alzeadon Felix.