They were outstanding in dispatching Japan in the second half, but the loss to Argentina has taken the Junior Springboks’ fate out of their hands in the World Under-20 Championship in Manchester.
Now they face an “all-or-nothing game” in Wednesday’s last Pool C game against France (8.45pm SA time kickoff) and have to hope that other results go their way.
It’s not even as clear-cut as teams in the two other pools just losing – the three group winners are likely to advance to the semi-finals, with the second-placed team with the most points being the fourth team in the playoffs as World Rugby utilise an overall log to determine the four semi-finalists after the pool stages.
In Pool C, Argentina’s shock 19-13 win over the Junior Boks on Saturday saw them virtually clinch the group as they face last-placed Japan on Wednesday and should win again.
Ireland are in a similar situation in Pool A after they stunned New Zealand 33-24 at the weekend, and will take on lowly Georgia on Wednesday.
But Pool B is where things get interesting as the top two teams, England and Australia, square off at the same time as the SA-France game.
If Ireland and Argentina win their respective games as expected, they will go to 12 or 13 log points and most likely qualify for the last-four. The Junior Boks can only reach a maximum of 11 if they win with a bonus point against France.
England are already on 10 points and are favourites to topple Australia (on six), while New Zealand are also on six and play Wales in their last group game.
From those scenarios, Ireland and Argentina appear to be shoo-ins for the semis, while England are also in the driving seat. That leaves South Africa and New Zealand to fight it out for the fourth semi-final spot, and if they finish on the same amount of log points, then points difference will determine the outcome.
South Africa have a difference of 34 at the moment, and New Zealand 46. So it’s all up to the Junior Boks to win handsomely against France, and coach Dawie Theron made eight changes in total to his starting line-up on Tuesday. The most significant sees Manie Libbok return to flyhalf, with Curwin Bosch switching back to fullback after the duo played in the other position against Argentina.
Libbok is regarded as the more attacking No 10 compared to Bosch’s measured tactical approach, but the latter is also a classy strike-runner in his own right from the back.
Maties’ Varsity Cup wing Edwill van der Merwe, SA Schools scrumhalf Embrose Papier, who is still in matric at Garsfontein High School in Pretoria and hails from Darling in the Western Cape, WP flank Cobus Wiese and lock Ruben de Villiers will all make their first starts in the tournament.
“Partly player management, and we need to go out there and get a bonus point. We believe this team is the best equipped to get us that result as it’s an all-or-nothing game for us,” Theron said about the selection on Tuesday.
“What we’ve seen of France in the previous two games is that they have a solid set-piece, so we need to attack them there and deprive them of good ball because we know that they want to run it. They need space to do it in, so we need to have a very good defence as well. The breakdown is also going to be a very important aspect in the game.”
Junior Bok assistant coach Nazeem Adams said that the team will take inspiration from the class of 2012, who were in a similar position after losing to Ireland in the opening game and then went on to win the title at Newlands.
“We spoke at length about the permutations after our video session, and we told them what happened in 2012, when the World Cup was in South Africa. We lost the first game against Ireland and we came back and had to beat England with a bonus point, and we did that,” Adams said.
“So, we are quite positive that we can still make it. I believe that this team have the ability to easily secure five points against France, if they play to their potential.”
Junior Springbok Team
15 Curwin Bosch, 14 S’busiso Nkosi, 13 Jeremy Ward (captain), 12 JT Jackson, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Junior Pokomela, 7 Cobus Wiese, 6 Zain Davids, 5 Eli Snyman, 4 Ruben de Villiers, 3 Carlü Sadie, 2 Jan-Henning Campher, 1 Franco van den Berg.
Bench: 16 Tango Balekile, 17 Nicolaas Oosthuizen, 18 Jaco Holtzhausen, 19 Ernst van Rhyn, 20 Denzel Hill, 21 James Hall, 22 Franco Naude, 23 Keanu Vers.
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