Strong start for Junior Boks in Gqeberha

The Junior Springboks started their U20 Rugby Championship campaign with a 48-21 victory over Argentina in Gqeberha on Monday, racing into a 36-0 lead at the break and although the visitors fought back in the second half, the South Africans did enough to move to the top of the log after the first round of the SANZAAR competition.

The SA U20s were superb in the first half and although it wasn’t a faultless display, the 10 398 spectators were treated to a great game on a sunny and cool Freedom Day afternoon at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, with Ethan Adams’ strong running and Jack Benade’s hat-trick two of the highlights of the game.

The Junior Boks started like a house on fire, with Adams (inside centre) bursting through numerous tackles for the first try in the second minute and scrumhalf Hendré Schoeman’s converted try from pick-and-drives close to Argentina’s line making it 12-0 after 10 minutes.

Yaqeen Ahmed (flyhalf) then waltzed through from and attacking line-out and Benade (wing) followed suit, scoring a brilliant try from a pin-point cross-kick from the Junior Bok No 10 after some enterprising attacking play, to make it 24-0 after 20 minutes.

Adams and Benade scored their second tries, with the SA U20 inside centre again busting tackles and the speedster going over from a great grubber by Alzeadon Felix (fullback), to make it 36-0 at the break.

The Junior Boks failed to build on this strong start in the second half, adding only two more tries to their tally, while Argentina also started playing with a bit more composure to avert a whitewash. The South African bench probably disrupted their flow a bit, while the Pumitas’ replacements had the opposite effect.

Oliver Reid (replacement prop) became the first forward to score and his converted try, in the 51st minute, stretched the score to 43-0, before Benade grabbed his hat-trick try four minutes later to make it 48-0.

Argentina scored their first try just over an hour in when Federico Torre (replacement loose forward) crashed over and their flanker and captain, Tomás Dande, followed suit with five minutes to go. Both were converted by Manuel Giannantonio (flyhalf) to make it 48-14.

Torre grabbed his second at the death and the successful conversion saw the Argentineans “win” the second half 21-12 but the Junior Boks’ brilliant first half performance was enough to seal a bonus-point win.

In the opening game of the tournament earlier on Monday afternoon, the defending champions, New Zealand, fought back in the second half to beat Australia by 34-29, with the Junior Wallabies paying the price for some ill-discipline after the break that allowed the Kiwis to fight back and take the win.

Score

Junior Springboks 48 (36) – Tries: Ethan Adams (2), Hendré Schoeman, Yaqeen Ahmed, Jack Benade (3), Oliver Reid. Conversions: Ahmed (4).

Pumitas 21 (0) – Tries: Federico Torre (2), Tomás Dande. Conversions: Manuel Giannantonio (3).