Junior Boks breeze past Blossoms
Junior Boks breeze past Blossoms, but not without high drama. South Africa beat Japan in their opening Pool C fixture of the 2016 U20 World Championship by 59-19.
Zain Davids and SA under20 captain Jeremy Ward both scored a brace of tries each, while fullback Curwin Bosch was flawless with the boot as he slotted all eight conversions and a long-range penalty goal for a personal tally of 19 points.
In a morale boosting performance from the Junior Boks who trailed 19-7 after 31 minutes, there were all too familiar flash-backs to the horror defeat the senior team suffered in the 2015 Rugby World Cup to Japan.
Even with a territorial advantage for much of the first 40 minutes, the Junior Boks failed to turn this territory into points. Japan were ruthless at the breakdown with multiple turnovers in their red zone. Even more disturbing to anyone in green and gold was the Japanese dominance at scrum time. With a 68kg weight deficit Japan completely disrupted the Springbok scrum.
After an early score by Davids down the centre of the park to put the Boks on the board in the 9th minute, Japan kicked up a gear and played as sensational a 20 minutes of rugby that you could hope to see.
Ataata Moeakiola Hatrick
Japan right wing Ataata Moeakiola broke through the line when Davids failed to plug the gap between the end of lineout and Manie Libbok. He dashed for 50 meters to pull Japan even.
A few minutes later a sensational cross kick, the width of the pitch, from Kanai, was clutched by Moeakiola for his second try. Shades of Larkham and Roff in that play and even the South African supporters managed to acknowledge the brilliance.
With Springbok S’busiso Nkosi sent to the sin bin for a high tackle in the red zone, Moeakiola wrestled over the line after numerous unsuccessful attempts by the Japanese forward pack for his third try of the game and Davie Theron’s first ulcer.
The Boks managed to pull one back just before half time when Libbok nudged a deft little chip over the rush defence for JT Jackson to gather under the posts and dot down. Conversion in place and the half time score 19-14 to the Baby Blossoms.
Second Half Fight Back
After what must have been a half time talk of Al Pachino, Any Given Sunday proportions, the Junior Boks emerged as a completely different team for the second half.
They retained possession and applied pressure with accuracy. Shortly after the break, Springbok captain Jeremy Ward crossed the white wash for his first try and South Africa’s third, courtesy of a break by Davids. 21-19 after a successful Bosch conversion.
Zain Davids, who continued to impress, and was named man of the match, showed some great skills to go over the line for his brace. His mishap in the Moeakiola try now all but a distant memory. 28-19 after the conversion, 14 points in 4 minutes and the Japanese body language had changed.
Jeremy Ward captaincy
4 minutes later, following a Libbok interception, Ward dotted down his second. After the conversion the Boks led 35-19. A penalty on half-way brought Ward’s captaincy to the forefront when he opted for Bosch to take a long range pop. Bosch split the uprights and cleared the cross bar by 15m, which drove the final nail into the contest.
An inspired decision from Ward, the long range effort let Japan know that with a 19 point lead and a kicker who hasn’t missed and can slot them from 65 meters, the game was done.
Libbok, Mafuma and Sadi all dotted down for converted tries and despite a spirited effort in the final minutes by Japan to secure a bonus point, it wasn’t to be.
Junior Boks Adapted Quickly
The Junior Boks had done what the senior team couldn’t in last years World Cup. Theron noted after the game “It was a tough lesson for us, but we adapted quickly. I think we regrouped very well as a team after a hard team talk at half time and we stuck to our structures, which worked in the end.”
Extra points for Jeremy Ward showing some old school class by closing his post-match interview with a well mannered “Thank you, Sir”.
SCORERS
Junior Springboks 59 (14) – Tries: Zain Davids (2), JT Jackson, Jeremy Ward (2), Manie Libbok, Mosolwa Mafuma, Carlü Sadie. Conversions: Curwin Bosch (8). Penalty goal: Bosch.
Japan 19 (19) – Tries: Ataata Moeakiola (3). Conversions: Taisetsu (2)
Teams
South Africa U20: 15.Bosch 14.Nkosi 13.Ward (C) 12.Jackson 11.Mafuma 10.Libbock 9.Hall 8.Pokomela 7.Van Rhyn 6.Davids 5.Snyman 4.Wiese 3.Holzhausen 2.Balekile 1.Blose 16.Campher 17.Van Den Berg 18.Sadie 19.De Villiers 20.Hill 21.Papier 22.Naude 23.Vers
Japan U20: 15.Yasuda 14.Moeakiola 13.Nagatomi 12.Maeda 11.Tomoya 10.Kanai 9.Nakajima 8.Tatafu 7.Furukawa (C) 6.Makisi 5.Akiyama 4.Fujita 3.Shosuke 2.Takeuchi 1.Iwaihara 16.Saito 17.Kaneko 18.Toma 19.Inoue 20.Tacihi 21.Saito 22.Watanabe 23.Takano
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