The Junior Springboks secured a hard-fought 30-28 win over Argentina in their final 2024 U20 Rugby Championship match.
The Junior Springboks dominated early, however, Argentina clawed their way back and scored three unanswered tries to lead 21-07 at the halftime break. Argentina dominated up front with their brilliant backs shining with their handling and interplay.
The second half belonged to the Junior Springboks who scored three unanswered tries to lead 27-21 with fifteen minutes to play. A late try by Argentina almost robbed the Junior Springboks, however, a converted penalty by the Junior Springboks secured a 30-28 win.
The Junior Springboks made a sensational start when a turnover led to Jurenzo Julius storming past several defenders to score under the sticks to lead 07-00.
Argentina absorbed the initial pressure from the Junior Springboks, however, both teams struggled to find their form in this arm wrestle with unforced errors costing both teams.
Argentina eventually got their break and scored a long-distance try to level the scores after twenty-six minutes of play.
A yellow card to Ezekiel Ngobeni with seven minutes still to play allowed Argentina to strike from the resulting line-out with brilliant interplay to score out wide and lead 14-07.
Argentina are in complete control during the final minutes of the first half, dominating up front, and using the space created by playing against fourteen players. Franco Rossetto scored his hat-trick out wide after a great five-meter lineout maul to lead 21-07 going into the halftime break.
The Junior Springboks had a good start to the second half, launching wave after wave of forward-dominated attacks. Tiaan Jacobs took a quick tap from a penalty, five meters from Argentina's tryline, to bulldoze his way for the Junior Springboks' second try.
The Junior Springboks earned another penalty from a great scrum ten meters from Argentina's tryline. Another quick tap by eventually led to Casper Badenhorst bulldozing his way to score the Junior Springboks' third try to trail 19-21 and twenty minutes to play in the second half.
The Junior Springboks continued their domination and following a yellow card to Argentina, Philip-Albert van Niekerk converted the resulting penalty to lead 22-21 with fourteen minutes still to play.
Four minutes later Junior Springbok captain Zachary Porthen scored their fourth try from a quick tap to lead 27-21. Argentina at that stage was struggling to get their hands on quality attacking ball and looked beaten.
However, from the kick-off, Franco Rossetto scored his fourth try following some great handling and interplay to retake the lead 28-27 with five minutes to play.
Despite spending the final minutes on Argentina's tryline the Junior Springboks could not secure the win until Philip-Albert van Niekerk converted a penalty to secure a 30-28 win.
Scorers:
Junior Springboks: Tries: Jurenzo Julius, Tiaan Jacobs, Casper Badenhorst, Zachary Porthen. Conversions: Philip-Albert van Niekerk (2). Penalties: Philip-Albert van Niekerk (2).
Argentina: Tries: Franco Rossetto (4). Conversions: Facundo Rodriguez (3), Santino Di Lucca.
Teams
South Africa: 15 Bruce Sherwood, 14 Joel Leotlela, 13 Jurenzo Julius, 12 Joshua Boulle, 11 Litelihle Bester, 10 Philip-Albert van Niekerk, 9 Ezekiel Ngobeni, 8 Tiaan Jacobs, 7 Bathobele Hlekani, 6 Sibabalwe Mahashe, 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Thomas Dyer, 3 Zachary Porthen (c), 2 Juan Smal, 1 Ruan Swart. Replacements: 16 Ethan Bester, 17 Liyema Ntshanga, 18 Casper Badenhorst, 19 Thabang Mphafi, 20 Divan Fuller, 21 Asad Moos, 22 Thurlon Williams, 23 JC Mars.
Los Pumitas: 15 Benjamín Elizalde, 14 Timothy Silva, 13 Faustino Sanchez Valarolo, 12 Tomás Medina, 11 Franco Rossetto, 10 Facundo Rodriguez, 9 Tomás Di Biase, 8 Ignacio Torrado, 7 Santos Fernandez De Oliveira, 6 Juan Penoucos, 5 Álvaro Garcia Iandolino, 4. Efraín Elias (c), 3 Tomás Rapetti, 2 Juan Greising Revol, 1 Diego Correa. Replacements: 16 Juan Manuel Vivas, 17 Gonzalo Gargallo Bazan, 18 Gael Galvan, 19 Luciano Asevedo, 20 Juan Pedro Bernasconi, 21 Jerónimo Llorens, 22 Santino Di Lucca, 23 Tomás Bocco.