The Junior Springboks and Ireland u/20's were involved in a brutal arm wrestle on Sunday evening with Ireland securing their place in the World Cup u/20 Championship beating the Junior Boks 31-12 following a dominant second half.
Despite the Junior Boks' dominance in the first quarter of the match, the scoreboard remained motionless as Ireland u/20s slowly clawed their way back into the match. Ireland upped their attack ten minutes from the end of the first half when their winger controlled a brilliant kick-pass to score Ireland's first points to lead 07-00 going into the second half. The Junior Boks went into the second half with fourteen men for another six minutes following a yellow card issued late in the first half.
The Junior Boks missed two sitters at the poles early in the first half, however, brilliant interplay and handling by the Junior Boks led to their first try of the match to level the scores at 07-07. However, Ireland struck back almost immediately when they bulldozed their way over the tryline under the poles to retake the lead 14-07.
Ireland added two more tries and a converted penalty to lead 31-07 with fourteen minutes left to play in the second half. Although the Junior Boks scored a consolation try with four minutes left to play Ireland dominated the second half to secure a 31-12 win.
The Junior Boks will face the loser between England or France on Friday in the third-place playoff.
Scorers:
Junior Boks: Tries: Imad Khan, Coetzee le Roux. Conversion: Jean Smith.
Ireland: Tries: James Nicholson (2), Brian Gleeson, Sam Berman. Conversions: Sam Prendergast (4). Penalty: Sam Prendergast
Teams:
Junior Springboks: 15 Hakeem Kunene, 14 Jurenzo Julius, 13 Katlego Letebele, 12 Ethan Hooker, 11 Michael Annies, 10 Jean Smith, 9 Imad Khan, 8 Corne Beets, 7 Ghudian van Reenen, 6 Paul de Villiers (c), 5 Jacob van Heerden, 4 Coetzee le Roux, 3 Dian Heunis, 2 Juan Else, 1 Cornè Lavagna. Replacements: 16 Samuel Kotze, 17 Phatu Ganyane, 18 Zachary Porthen, 19 Jannes Potgieter, 20 Abulele Ndabambi, 21 Asad Moos, 22 Damian Markus, 23 Regan Izaks.
Ireland u/20: 15 Henry McErlean, 14 Andrew Osborne, 13 Hugh Gavin, 12 John Devine, 11 James Nicholson, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Fintan Gunne, 8 Brian Gleeson, 7 Ruadhan Quinn, 6 Diarmuid Mangan, 5 Conor O’Tighearnaigh, 4 Charlie Irvine, 3 Ronan Foxe, 2 Gus McCarthy (captain), 1 Paddy McCarthy. Replacements: 16 Danny Sheahan, 17 George Hadden, 18 Fiachna Barrett, 19 Evan O’Connell, 20 Dan Barron, 21 Oscar Cawley, 22 Matthew Lynch, 23 Sam Berman.