South Africa: Junior Boks Look Like the Real Deal As They Advance to Under-20 Championship Semifinals

8 July 2025
Daily Maverick (Johannesburg)

South Africa under-20 secured their second win of the tournament, beating reigning champions England 32-22 on Friday.

The Junior Springboks have already secured their spot in the semifinals of the World Rugby under-20 Championship after a brilliant 32-22 win over defending champions England on Friday evening.

In fairness, a large percentage of England's 2024 under-20 Championships squad have aged out of the contesting this year's tournament, but this crop of junior English is still very strong. They only lost one match in the Six Nations under-20 Championship this year, falling two points short of eventual winners France.

South Africa's victory was built on a resolute, single-minded attitude on defence and a flair-filled attack, opting to run the ball - extremely effectively - from all over the Stadio Mario Battaglini in Rovigo, Italy.

Friday evening's win was South Africa's second in the tournament, having squashed Australia 73-17 in their opening group stage match. They face Scotland on Wednesday - who so far have lost to Australia and England - in their final group game before their semifinal clash.

"We'll take a lot of confidence from this victory, but Scotland are a good side, they ran England close in the Six Nations,...

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