A shocking first-half display saw the Junior Springboks knocked out of the World Under-20 Championship by hosts England on Monday night.
The SA Under-20 side conceded five tries in the opening 40 minutes to go down 39-17 in the end, with England going through to their fourth consecutive final in the competition, where they will face Ireland (who beat Argentina 37-7 in Monday’s first semi-final) on Saturday.
Coach Dawie Theron employed strange tactics on attack which saw the Junior Boks opt to keep things tight and drive the ball up with the forwards through a series of mauls and liberal use of the pick-and-go instead of unleashing their star-studded backline, and it cost the South Africans dearly.
The bigger and more streetwise English pack were ready for the tight-loose battle and often won the ball on the ground and turned it over in the tackle inside their own 22, while they also won the favour of the referee’s whistle at the breakdowns.
There was just no cohesion on attack or defence in the Junior Bok set-up, and one has to wonder if it was a case of the players not listening to the coaches or if the coaches’ plan was the problem.
It certainly appeared to be the latter on attack, as the Junior Bok forwards just could not finish off as they hardly made use of dangerous strike-runners such as Zain Davids, Curwin Bosch, Manie Libbok and Edwill van der Merwe.
In addition, the South Africans’ defensive alignment was all over the place, while there were several missed tackles as well as the home team ran through almost at will.
England scored within the first three minutes as Libbok let the opposition through and scrumhalf Max Green dotted down. The hosts played with wonderful width and found wide open spaces on the flanks, and it was no surprise when lock Huw Taylor bashed his way over to put his team 12-0 ahead after just eight minutes.
And disaster struck in the 15th minute for the visitors when captain Jeremy Ward was yellow-carded for taking out England fullback Max Malins in the air, with Malins landing on his shoulder.
That made the already ponderous and porous South African defence even easier to breach, and not long after Ward’s departure, England wing Sam Aspland-Robinson glided over out wide.
The England backline kept the pressure on the SA defence with lovely skill on attack, with their offloading game in the tackle causing the visitors endless problems. Centre Johnny Williams barged his way over in the 34th minute for their fourth try, and the game was virtually decided as a contest.
Just to rub salt in the South African wounds, England flank Will Evans was yellow-carded for a dangerous tackle on No 8 Junior Pokomela, but that didn’t stop Malins from running in a fifth try after SA wing Mosolwa Mafuma and Libbok failed to deal with a routine up-and-under.
At 31-3 at halftime, there was very little chance of an Ellis Park-like comeback from the Junior Boks, although they provided some hope with two tries within three minutes early in the second half.
Left wing Van der Merwe read an English cross-kick brilliantly to catch the ball inside his 22 and race all the way to score at the other end, while there was finally some terrific interplay at the back as Libbok ran a brilliant line and timed his pass to perfection to put Bosch away in the 52nd minute.
At 31-17 down with 28 minutes left, it was enough time for the South Africans to pull off a remarkable victory, but it was not to be. England’s defence never leaked another try, while flyhalf and captain Harry Mallinder slotted a 55 th-minute penalty to stretch the lead to 17 points.
While South Africa’s defence improved in the second half, with Davids in particular putting in a huge shift, they couldn’t find their rhythm on attack. England rounded off things in style when a flowing move from a turnover inside their 22 ended with substitute Max Wright flying over.
“All credit to England. They came at us hard and they played to their strength. They took advantage of our weaknesses. We didn’t play at our best today and we are going to go back to the drawing board and go all out in the third-place playoff,” Ward said afterwards.
“We were definitely a little too flat on our attack today. Their line-speed was pretty good, so they caught us out a few times with ball-and-all tackles and we couldn’t get our attack going.”
Theron will end his reign as the SA Under-20 coach with a third-place playoff against Argentina on Saturday before leaving for Japan to coach Docomo Red Hurricanes.
@IndyCapeSport
POINTS-SCORERS
England Under-20 – Tries: Max Green, Huw Taylor, Sam Aspland-Robinson, Johnny Williams, Max Malins, Max Wright. Conversions: Harry Mallinder (3). Penalty: Mallinder (1).
Junior Boks – Tries: Edwill van der Merwe, Curwin Bosch. Conversions: Bosch (2). Penalty: Bosch (1).