Triumphant Junior Bok captain Norton content with choosing rugby
Junior Springbok captain Riley Norton on his arrival with the World Rugby U20 Championship trophy at OR Tambo airport earlier this week. Picture: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
Triumphant Junior Springbok captain Riley Norton is content with his decision to choose pursuing rugby over cricket, and he admits that winning the World Rugby U20 Championship certainly makes it feel like he made the correct call.
Norton led the Junior Bok side through an unbeaten campaign in Italy, which culminated with a 23-15 win over the Junior All Blacks in the final on Saturday, which saw them become just the second South African team to lift the trophy, after the class of 2012 did it on home turf.
Norton is a dual sports star and during his matric year in 2024 he represented the Proteas U19 team during the U19 Cricket World Cup in South Africa.
However, since finishing school he has signed a contract with Western Province rugby, and was selected as captain of the Junior Boks, leading them during the U20 Rugby Championship in Gqeberha earlier this year, and at the world champs.
'I am very content with my choice, and winning competitions makes it a lot easier. I am so grateful that I have had the opportunity to play both sports, and cricket taught me so much that I can take into rugby,' said Norton after lifting the trophy on Saturday night.
'So I am really grateful for the opportunities I have been given in South Africa. But there's no sport like rugby if I'm being honest. I love the camaraderie, the intensity and the physical and mental part of it.
'I'm very grateful to be in a position like this, being able to play rugby for my country, and hopefully I can continue growing.'
Cricket low
Norton also experienced the lows of a major competition, when the Proteas U19s were beaten in the semifinals of last year's U19 World Cup, and he said he had taken plenty out of that disappointment, which had helped him during the U20 championship.
'It's definitely something I thought about personally. That semifinal (loss) against India hurt me quite a bit, because we were in such a good position and chucked it away, especially playing at home,' explained Norton.
'So you never like to lose semis and finals, but that (loss) taught me a lot. Things like staying in the present, not being complacent and taking things moment by moment and whistle to whistle. That's something I took out of cricket that I could put into rugby.
'That definitely did motivate me, because we all want to win trophies and medals in sport. So to get so close in such an unbelievable set-up and environment and come up short in a game we should've won, gave me personal motivation to try and get us (Junior Boks) over the line.
'I'm just so proud of the guys and the effort that they put in, because without the team and the whole unit of coaches and management, none of this would've been possible.'
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