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The Junior Springboks face a tough final clash with U20 Rugby Championship title-holders New Zealand after letting a 17-0 lead slip in a narrow defeat to Australia on Tuesday.
A tactically astute second-half performance saw the young men from Down Under beat Kevin Foote’s charges 29-24 in their second match of the competition at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha.
The Junior Boks surged into a 14-0 advantage at the break. Dlanker Xola Nyali barged over the whitewash from a maul early on, and flyhalf Vusi Moyo split the upright with the first of his two conversions in the half, before winger Siya Ndlozi intercepted and scored the home side’s second try.
Australia lost prop Trevor King to the sin bin for repeated infringements before the interval, and Nyali went over for what he thought was his second five-pointer of the match, but his effort was disallowed by the TMO for obstruction at the lineout.
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Moyo made it 17-0 with a penalty goal after the restart, but three tries in 15 minutes swung the game in favour of the Australians, with replacements Edwin Langi, Lipina Ata and lock Eamon Doyle crossing for the visitors.
Australia fullback Sid Harvey converted all three for a 21-17 lead. The Aussies crossed for what looked to be another great try by speedster Nick Conway, only to be denied by a superb cover tackle by Cheswill Jooste.
Two minutes later, Conway again broke free down the left, but this time his inside pass found centre Xavier Rubens for Australia’s fourth try to make it a nine-point game with 10 minutes on the clock.
When Harvey added a penalty goal, it was game over for the Junior Boks, despite a late try by Batho Hlekani to give South Africa a losing bonus point.
Earlier, New Zealand scored 11 tries in a resounding 75-21 win over Argentina while only conceding three tries.
After two rounds, the Kiwis lead the standings with seven points, followed by Australia on six, South Africa on five and Argentina on zero.
The Junior Boks and New Zealand clash on Sunday (4:10pm), after the Aussies and Pumitas cross swords at 2pm.
Photo: Richard Huggard/Gallo Images/Getty Images
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