SA U18 Delivered A Second Impressive Performance In U18 International Series

 

The SA U18s delivered a second impressive performance in the U18 International Series when they beat Ireland by 45-5 at Boland Landbou near Wellington on Tuesday afternoon.

Playing against a light wind in the first half, the South Africans protected the ball very well and almost set up camp in the Irish half, with their strong set piece play forcing the visitors to work very hard on defence. A couple of unforced errors cost the hosts though, but they still managed to score three tries before the break.

Ireland, who beat the SA U18 'A' side by 36-33 last Friday, restored some parity in the second half, but the South Africans showed too much composure and added four more tries to their tally for a second convincing win after they beat France by 43-21 in the opening round of the series.

Under pressure for most of the opening exchanges, Ireland conceded a string of penalties and the SA U18s finally breached the visitors' defence in the 15th minute when Jayden Joubert (lock) drove over.

Nine minutes later, SA hooker Clinton Agu burst away from a strong maul and beat one defender for the second try, while Jayden Brits (scrumhalf) added his name to the score sheet with a try from a quick tap penalty shortly before the break. After missing the first two, Ruben Groenewald added the conversion to give the hosts a 17-0 lead at the break.

That changed to 24-0 straight after the restart when the South Africans pounced on an Irish mistake to send Lamla Mgedezi (wing) over in the left hand corner, with Groenewald adding the extras.

A penalty try for a collapsed scrum against Ireland followed a few minutes later, and at 31-0, the SA U18s were firmly in control, although the visitors started to play with more confidence.

They finally scored their first try after 47 minutes when Ireland captain and prop Harry Goslin burst over, but apart from that, the South Africans' defence was generally strong and when Jadrian Afrikaner (replacement wing) exploited space on the left for their sixth try, the momentum swung back in the hosts' favour.

Ethan Adams had the final say a few minutes before the final whistle when the strong midfielder bulldozed his way over the tryline from short range, with Liyema Nela converting to make it 45-5.

Scorers:
South Africa U18: Tries: Jayden Joubert, Clinton Agu, Jayden Brits, Lamla Mgedezi, Jadrian Afrikaner, Ethan Adams, Penalty try. Conversions: Ruben Groenewald (2), Liyema Nela (2).
Ireland U18: Try: Harry Goslin.

Teams:

South Africa U18: 1 Jordan Jooste, 2 Clinton Agu, 3 Matthew Van Der Merwe, 4 Jayden Joubert, 5 AJ Meyer, 6 Jacobus De Villiers, 7 Wasi Vyambwera, 8 Gert Kemp, 9 Jayden Brits, 10 Ruben Groenewald, 11 Lamla Mgedezi, 12 Christian Vorster, 13 Markus Muller, 14 Junaide Stuart, 15 Zekhethelo Siyaya. Replacements: 16 Altus Rabe, 17 Kai Pratt, 18 JG Badenhorst, 19 Lwandile Mlaba, 20 Chinedu Amadi, 21 Josh Neill, 22 Morne Noble, 23 Liyema Nela, 24 Ethan Adams, 25 Jadrian Afrikaner, 26 Thabiso Simelane.

Ireland U18: 1 Ben Guerin, 2 Lee Fitzpatrick, 3 Harry Goslin, 4 Jonathan Ginnety, 5 Frank Maher, 6 Geoff Wall, 7 Alex Lautsou, 8 Adam Boyd, 9 Conner McVicker, 10 Charles O'Connor, 11 James Browne, 12 Bernard White, 13 Tom Bell, 14 Geoff O'sullivan, 15 Fion Rowsome. Replacements: 16 Joe Christle, 17 James Gould, 18 Jamie Bohan, 19 Jamie Walsh, 20 Cian Butler, 21 Jon Rodgers, 22 Luke Coffey, 23 Paul Neary, 24 Andrew Henson, 25 Harry Waters, 26 Daniel O'Connell.