The Junior Springboks and New Zealand U20 opened the U20 Rugby Championship on a waterlogged Sunshine Coast Stadium in Australia, which ended in a 13-13 draw.
A single penalty gave New Zealand a 03-00 lead going into the second half. Both teams were struggling with the extremely wet conditions, however, New Zealand were the more "dominant" team in the first half. Despite New Zealand's good start in the second half the Junior Springboks dominated the final thirty minutes and led 13-08 with minutes to play. A yellow card to the Junior Boks led to New Zealand levelling the score with an unconverted try in the corner.
The first thirty minutes was an arm wrestle before New Zealand's fullback Isaac Hutchinson opened the scoring with a converted penalty after thirty minutes of play to lead 06-00, which was also the halftime score.
New Zealand made a dominant start to the second half, however, it took them fifteen minutes to score their first try off a strong scrum in the Junior Boks red zone combined with brilliant handling to lead 08-03.
The Junior Springboks' Tylor Sefoor converted a penalty to open their account on the scoreboard before Joel Leotlela scored in the corner to put the Junior Springboks in the lead by 10-08 and twenty minutes to play in the second half.
A converted penalty by Tylor Sefoor added to the growing belief of the Junior Springboks who started to dominate in the final quarter of the match.
A yellow card to the Junior Springboks gave New Zealand the edge up front. New Zealand set up camp in the Junior Springbok's red zone and following sustained pressure they scored a try in the corner to level the score with two minutes to go.
Scorers:
Junior Springboks: Try: Joel Leotlela. Conversion: Tylor Sefoor. Penalties: Tylor Sefoor (2).
U20 New Zealand: Tries: Stanley Solomon, Frank Vaenuku. Penalty: Isaac Hutchinson.
Teams:
Junior Springboks: 15 Michail Damon, 14 Joel Leotlela, 13 Jurenzo Julius (vc), 12 Bruce Sherwood, 11 Litelihle Bester, 10 Tylor Sefoor, 9 Asad Moos, 8 Tiaan Jacobs, 7 Bathobele Hlekani, 6 Sibabalwe Mahashe, 5 Adam de Waal, 4 Thomas Dyer, 3 Zachary Porthen (c), 2 Juan Smal, 1 Ruan Swart. Replacements: 16 Ethan Bester, 17 Mbasa Maqubela, 18 Reno Hirst, 19 JF van Heerden (vc), 20 Thabang Mphafi, 21 Ezekiel Ngobeni, 22 Thurlon Williams, 23 Joshua Boulle.
U20 New Zealand: 15 Isaac Hutchinson, 14 Frank Vaenuku, 13 Aki Tuivailala, 12 Xavi Taele (vc), 11 Stanley Solomon, 10 Cooper Grant, 9 Ben O’Donovan, 8 Malachi Wrampling, 7 Johnny Lee, 6 Andrew Smith, 5 Liam Jack, 4 Tom Allen, 3 Joshua Smith, 2 Vernon Bason (c), 1 Will Martin. Replacements: 16 A-One Lolofie, 17 Senio Sanele, 18 Kurene Luamanuvae, 19 Cam Christie, 20 Mosese Bason, 21 Dylan Pledger, 22 Rico Simpson, 23 Josh Whaanga.