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Junior Boks power to win and are worthy global champions

football19 July 2025 21:28
By:Gavin Rich
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The Junior Springboks broke a drought that has lasted 13 long years by powering to a 23-15 win over the Junior All Blacks in the final of the World Rugby Under-20 Championship in Rovigo in Italy, on Saturday night.

The word ‘powering’ is the most apt one to use to describe how Riley Norton’s team won South Africa’s second global under-20 title (it was the World Junior Championship when they won it in 2012) for although there was only eight points in it at the end, the winners were so dominant that they should have lost by a lot more.

Indeed, they might have wondered if fate was against them when they had a try to their impressive scrumhalf Hashim Pead chalked off with 18 minutes to go. It was the right call, for the replay showed that the New Zealand scrumhalf was blocked when Pead peeled around from a dominant scrum to dot down for what at the time looked like the clinching try. They were 16-8 ahead at the time, and the try would have put the All Blacks out of the game.

Then minutes later, flyhalf Vusi Moyo, so impeccable with his goalkicking boot in the entire game and throughout the tournament, missed a penalty. There had been other opportunities missed by the Junior Boks, such as when wing Jaco Williams ran onto a Moyo cross kick but just couldn’t dot the ball down.

POWERHOUSE SCRUMMING

It was a night where the Junior Boks had been denied by several of those fine margins, and the All Blacks disrupted them with their defensive lineout early on, yet the one thing that remained constant was the powerful South African scrumming and equally forceful driving that kept the Junior All Blacks on the back foot for most of the way.

The Junior Boks also had a telling territory advantage, and the Junior All Blacks would have felt they were being suffocated for much of the game. In that sense, they did well, with their defence that won them their semifinal against France keeping them in the game until finally the Boks made it safe when fullback Gilemo Mentoe ran onto a kick with under four minutes left to power his team into a 21-8 lead that became 23-8 with Moyo’s successful angled conversion.

MENTOE’S TRY WAS GAME, SET AND MATCH

It was game, set and match, and perhaps the young Boks relaxed, for they allowed the big Kiwi winger Maloni Kunawave to exploit some shoddy defence to barge through for his team’s second try. But with just a minute to go, it was too little, too late, and it was just a consolation try that put a false gloss on the final scoreline from the All Black viewpoint.

The Junior Boks made their statement early as No 8 Wandile Mbata dotted down from an impressive driving maul that was set up by an early penalty. The scrum statement happened soon after that, but the Junior Boks did have to also prove their defensive mettle a few times in the game.

There was a long period where the All Blacks launched wave after wave of multi-phase attacks and the Boks did brilliantly to keep them out. When they did eventually concede, it was from an All Black trick play at the lineout, with All Black No 5 lock looping around to the front of the lineout to go over in the right corner.

OUTSTANDING KIWI DEFENCE KEPT THEM IN THE GAME

The conversion from Rico Simpson did not find its mark, so when Moyo kicked two penalties, it stretched the Boks into a lead of more than a score. In truth, they came close on several occasions to make it more than that, but the All Blacks did well to resist and keep the Boks to just three points during the time that they were down to 14 men after loosehead prop Siko Pole had his initial yellow card upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker for an upright tackle that made head contact.

For half that time, the Boks were also down to 14 men, however, with centre Albie Bester being yellow-carded for a dangerous cleanout. It was the last eight minutes of the half that it was 14 against 14, but it didn’t really stop the Boks from looking like the dominant team, with that domination being stamped in the collisions as well as the scrums and, as the game wore on, more and more with their driving maul.

The young All Blacks did start the second half with intent and carried the ball through multi-phase attacks for more than six minutes. Somehow, the Boks resisted, and when they conceded a penalty, their opponents elected to kick it through the posts to reduce the Junior Boks' lead to five points.

Being back within a score didn’t last long for the Kiwis, however, as Moyo kicked another penalty to make it 16-8. It was the Boks applying most if not all the pressure by then and it felt like just a matter of time before they would put the game to bed. It took longer than anticipated, but in truth, the New Zealanders were well and truly strangled on the night.

There was some impressive running and handling from both teams, given the conditions and there might have been more tries in the game had it not been for the two excellent defensive systems that were on duty on the night.

The Junior All Blacks were looking for a record seventh under-20 title and fell short. They tend to win finals, with the last time they lost being to the Junior Boks back in the Newlands final in 2012. The Junior Boks finished behind New Zealand in the recent Rugby Championship under-20 tournament, and were also beaten by Australia in that tournament, so their win in the final completed a stunning reversal. Even more impressive for the group that won in Italy was that they were following up from a seventh-place finish in last year’s tournament.

Scores

Junior Springboks 23 - Tries: Wandile Mlaba and Gilermo Mentoe, Conversions: Vusi Moyo 2; Penalties: Vusi Moyo 3.

Junior All Blacks 15 - Tries: Jaden Sa and Maloni Kunawave; Conversion: Lloyd Cole; Penalty: Rico Simpson.

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