The Junior Springboks disappointed with the quality of their play against an extremely physical Georgia u/18s in Stellenbosch on Saturday. Although the Junior Springboks won 33-23 they will have to get out of the first gear if they want to survive the pool matches in the 2023 World Cup u/20 Championship.
The Junior Springboks started like a house on fire, however, brilliant defence by Georgia on their own tryline forced the Junior Springboks to convert a penalty to take an early 03-00 lead after just three minutes of play.
However, the Junior Springboks continued to up the pressure until Katlego Letebele regained his own brilliant chip kick to score the Junior Springboks' first try of the match.
Georgia u/20 started to get the hands-on quality attacking the ball and used their big forwards to maul their way over the tryline for their captain L Tsikhistavi to score their first try. The Junior Sprinboks led 10-07 after fifteen minutes of play in the first half.
Although the Junior Springboks set up camp in Georgia u/20s' 22m they could only score their second try after twenty-three minutes of play when Jurenzo Julius went over in the corner to stretch their lead to 17-07.
Jean Smith added a converted penalty with time already up in the first half to extend the Junior Springboks' lead to 20-07 at the halftime break.
Georgia u/20 started the second half like a house on fire to dominate the first ten minutes of play. Great interplay and handling opened up the space out wide for winger S Aptsiauri to stroll over for Georgia u/20s' second try. A penalty by Georgia u/20s reduced the Junior Springboks lead to 20-18 and with seventeen minutes left to play it was game on.
Jean Smith converted two unanswered penalties to extend the Junior Springboks' lead to 26-18 and ten minutes to play in the second half.
The Junior Springboks took advantage of an error in decision-making by Georgia u/20 to send Ethan Hooker over for the Junior Springboks' third try. Georgia u/20s replied almost immediately from a 5m lineout-maul to once again reduce the Junior Springboks lead to 33-23 which was also the final score.
Scorers:
Springbok u/20: Tries: Katlego Letebele, Jurenzo Julius, Ethan Hooker. Conversions: Jean Smith (3). Penalties: Jean Smith (4)
Georgia u/20: Tries: L Tsikhistavi, S Aptsiauri, N Babunashvili. Conversion: P Khutsishvili. Penalties: P Khutsishvili (2).
Teams
Junior Springboks: 15 Hakeem Kunene, 14 Jurenzo Julius, 13 Katlego Letebele, 12 Ethan Hooker, 11 Masande Mtshali, 10 Jean Smith, 9 Imad Khan, 8 Abulele Ndabambi, 7 Ghudian van Reenen, 6 Paul de Villiers (captain), 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Coetzee Le Roux, 3 Mawande Mdanda, 2 Juann Else, 1 Phatu Ganyane. Replacements: 16 SJ Kotze, 17 Corné Lavagna, 18 Zachary Porthen, 19 Jannes Potgieter, 20 Gcinokuhle Mdletshe, 21 Neil le Roux, 22 Damian Markus, 23 Michael Annies.
Georgia u/20s: 15 V Mikadze, 14 L Tsirekidze, 13 T Kakhoidze, 12 G Shvelidze, 11 S Aptsiauri, 10 P Khutsishvili, 9 D Khuroshvili, 8 N Lomidze, 7 L Tsikhistavi, 6 R Zazadze, 5 G Nikoladze, 4 G Ghaniashvili, 3 B Tsikhistavi, 2 B Konelidze, 1 G Mamaiashvili. Replacements: 16 N Babunashvili, 17 L Pkhakadze, 18 L Aptisiauri, 19 GGergedava, 20 T Ganiashvili, 21 S Jigauri, 22 G Kheladze, 23 L Khorbaladze
