South Africa u/18 hosted England u/18 this afternoon in Paarl and produced some quality and disciplined play to overpower the visitors to win 40-24 in a brilliant display of how to play in rainy and windy conditions.
After 20 minutes of play, it was still a close game with the boot of Stehan Heymans that kept South Africa u/18 in the front. However, thereafter it was South Africa u/18 controlling everything on the field. Apart from five minutes in the third quarter, the dominance of South Africa u/18 grew steadily during the match. South Africa u/18 scored four tries to the two of England u/18.
02:27 R. Taylor converted an early penalty for England u/18. (00-03)
03:59 Stehan Heymans converted a penalty for Sout Africa u/18. (03-03)
12:30 Stehan Heymans converted a second penalty for South Africa u/18. (06-03)
15:10 Stehan Heymans converted the third penalty for South Africa "A". (09-03)
20:00 The weather did not make it easy for either team and although South Africa u/18 did "dominate" most of the first twenty minutes this match is still up for grabs.
22:28 A quick tap twenty minutes from the South African tryline allowed Jack Bennett to stroll through a sleeping South African u/18defence of South Africa u/18 to score underneath the poles (09-10)
26:28 Ethan Bester score from the back of a 5m lineout-maul (16-10)
31:35 Caleb Abrahams scored a great try after selling England u/18 a great dummy. (23-10)
35:00 At this stage South Africa u/18 has taken control of the match with the boot of Stehan Heymans managing the match brilliantly. South Africa A scored two great tries in the last 10 minutes of the half to open up a 23-10 lead at the halftime break.
36:45 Heymans converted the fourth penalty for South Africa u/18 to take his personal contribution for the match to sixteen points (26-10)
41:45 Luca Bakkes scored South Africa u/18's third try from the back of 5m lineout-maul. (33-10)
45:39 L. Keasey score from the back of a 5m lineout maul as England put pressure on their host's tryline from the kickoff. (33-17)
55:00 South Africa u/18 controlled the first fifteen minutes of the second half, however, the last five minutes belonged to England u/18 as the pressure they applied forced South Africa u/18 into making several mistakes on the defence.
66:30 Jack Waterhousescored South Africa u/18's fourth try after some brilliant interplay by the hosts' forwards and backs. (40-17)
67:32 L Keasey scored his second try of the match for England u/18 from the back of a 5m lineout-maul. (40-24)
Scorers:
South Africa u/18: Try: Ethan Bester, Caleb Abrahams, Luca Bakkes, Jack Waterhouse. Conversions: Stehan Heymans (3), Thurlon Williams. Penalties: Stehan Heymans (4)
England u/18: Try: L Keasey. Conversion: R Taylor. Penalty: R Taylor.
South Africa u/18: 15. JC Mars, 14. Alfondso Isaacs, 13. Litelihle Bester, 12. Joshua Boulle, 11. Joel Leotlela, 10. Stehan Heymans, 9. Caleb Abrahams, 8. Sibabalwe Mahashe, 7. Thabang Mpafi, 6. Lukas Meyer, 5. JF van Heerden, 4. Thomas Dyer, 3. Zachary Porthen (c), 2. Ethan Bester, 1. Casper Badenhorst. Replacements: 16. Luca Bakkes, 17. Ruan Swart, 18. Reno Hirst, 19. Jack Waterhouse, 20. Matthew Fick, 21. Steven Nel, 22. Thurlon Williams, 23. Bruce Sherwood, 24. Sha-Jehaan de Jongh, 25. Lilitha Matziliza.
England u/18: 15. I. Jones, 14. T. Burton, 13. B. Redshaw, 12. S. Kerr, 11. T. Cousins, 10. R. Taylor, 9. A. McParland, 8. B. Merrett, 7. H. Pollock, 6. J. Bennett, 5. T. Burrow, 4. O. Sodeke, 3. B. Sela, 2. J. Oliver, 1. L. Trevett. Replacements: 16. L. Keasey, 17. A. O'Driscoll, 18. I. Keller, 19. F. Baker, 20. W. Owen, 21. G. Perkins, 22. W. Wootton, 23. R. Weston, 24. G. Edson, 25. C. Byrne, 26. W. Glister.
