Junior Boks and NZ share spoils in Rugby Champs U20 opener

02/05/2024 11:03

ROUND ONE WRAP: The Junior Springboks and New Zealand played to a 13-all draw in their Rugby Championship Under-20 opener at the Sunshine Coast Stadium on Thursday.

The match was played in very wet and windy conditions, with a heavy downpour before the game creating puddles of water all over the field.

The swirling wind, mostly in the South Africans' faces in the first half, further complicated matters.

The wet conditions made handling difficult and the Junior Boks struggled at the breakdowns, but they were very strong on defence. The SA U20s only had one attacking opportunity but could not make it count.

New Zealand enjoyed territorial advantage in the first half, and a penalty goal on the half-hour mark by Isaac Hutchison was the only points of the half, as the Kiwis hit the sheds leading by 3-0.

The game opened up in the second half when New Zealand stretched their lead to 8-0 when Stanley Solomon went over in the left corner from an attacking scrum in the 50th minute.

The Junior Boks knuckled down though and Tylor Sefoor (flyhalf) landed his first penalty goal just before the hour-mark to make it 8-3.

Moments later, the Junior Boks pounced with Joel Leotlela going over under the posts after great work done by Bruce Sherwood as the SA U20s capitalised on a mistake under a kick by New Zealand.

After Sefoor's conversion and a second penalty goal four minutes later, after a massive scrum, the Junior Boks were suddenly leading by 13-8, and it could have been more had the SA U20 flyhalf not missed another attempt at a penalty.

With seven minutes to go, Joshua Boulle was yellow carded and a few minutes later, New Zealand scored their second try when Frank Vaenuku went over in the right-hand corner, but the wind pushed the conversion wide to make it 13-13, which is how it ended shortly thereafter.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Try: Leotlela
Con: Sefoor
Pens: Sefoor 2

For New Zealand:
Tries: Solomon, Vaenuku
Pen: Hutchinson

Yellow card: Joshua Boulle (South Africa, 72')

Teams

South Africa: 15 Michail Damon, 14 Joel Leotlela, 13 Jurenzo Julius, 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 (captain), 2 Juan Smal, 1 Ruan Swart.
Replacements: 16 Ethan Bester, 17 Mbasa Maqubela, 18 Reno Hirst, 19 JF van Heerden, 20 Thabang Mphafi, 21 Ezekiel Ngobeni,22 Thurlon William, 23 Joshua Boulle.

New Zealand: 15 Isaac Hutchinson, 14 Frank Vaenuku, 13 Aki Tuivailala, 12 Xavi Taele, 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 (captain), 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.

Referee: Jordan Kaminski
Assistant referees: Nehuen Juari Rivero, Jeremy Markey
TMO: Brett Cronan