Junior Springboks off to winning start in U20 Rugby Championship
· Citizen
The Junior Springboks kicked off their U20 Rugby Championship campaign with an emphatic 48-21 win over Argentina’s Los Pumitas in Gqeberha on Monday.
The SA U20s completely outplayed Argentina in general play in the first half, slicing through their defence seemingly at will for six unanswered tries (score 36-0 at the break).
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Argentina bounced back in the second period, but their three scores in the final quarter were too little too late after the damage had been done.
This was in stark contrast to the same fixture last year, where a different Junior Springbok crop had to rally from 25-15 down to win 36-25.
Junior Boks thrash Argentina
Wing Jack Benade was sublime for his hat-trick, as was centre Ethan Adams for his two scores. Flyhalf Yaqeen Ahmed also deserves a nod for scoring a try, creating another with a cross-kick, and four conversions.
On receiving the man-of-the-match award, Adams said the team met their objective for the day, which was to “dominate” the opposition.
“We had a good game, I am really proud of the boys,” he said.
“We did all the simple stuff right and executed everything we trained for. And we played with high intensity.
“It was quite a fast game but a nice experience.”
The performance provides confidence, not just for the rest of the tournament, but also for the U20 World Championship in Georgia exactly two months away, where South Africa are defending champions.
New Zealand, who have won both editions of the tournament so far, fought back from a 24-12 deficit at half-time to beat Australia 34-29 in their opening match on the same day.
Next, New Zealand play Argentina and the Junior Springboks face Australia in round two on Sunday.
First-half blitz sinks Los Pumitas
The Junior Springboks got off to a blistering start with four tries in the opening 20 minutes.
Centre Ethan Adams burst through three tacklers to score in the third minute, and scrumhalf Hendré Schoeman dove over after the SA U20s won a scrum penalty in the ninth.
A second scrum penalty saw flyhalf Yaqeen Ahmed cross. Ahmed then produced a brilliant cross-kick for wing Jack Benade to score the bonus-point try. That made it 24-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Adams again left tacklers in his wake for his second try, while Benade grounded his second after a grubber before the break.
Replacement prop Oliver Reid finished the move after a slick couple of runs by the backline before Benade side-stepped a defender to score his hat-trick within the hour mark.
Argentina scored three tries in the final quarter, Federico Torre crashing over twice after a few drives, and Tomás Dande darting between defenders to give the scoreline some respectability.
Scorers
Junior Springboks: Tries – Ethan Adams (2), Hendré Schoeman, Yaqeen Ahmed, Jack Benade (3), Oliver Reid. Conversions – Yaqeen Ahmed 4/8.
Argentina: Tries – Federico Torre (2), Tomás Dande. Conversions – Manuel Giannantonio 3/3.