OPINION: Plenty to work on for Junior Boks ahead of World Champs

The Citizen

14-05-2025

The SA U20 team won just one match in the recent U20 Rugby Championship that also featured Australia, Argentina and New Zealand.
Junior Springbok flyhalf Kyle Smith tries to evade the New Zealand defence during their high scoring U20 Rugby Championship clash at the at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha on Sunday. Picture: Richard Huggard/Gallo Images
The Junior Springboks will need to buckle down over the next month and a half and get stuck into their various training regimes if they want to improve and ensure that they are a contender when the 2025 World Rugby U20 Championship kicks off in Italy at the end of June.
This after a disappointing showing in hosting the 2025 U20 Rugby Championship in Gqeberha over the past few weeks, where the Junior Boks won just one game out of three to finish third on the four-team log.
The margins were tight, with the Junior Boks beating Argentina 36-25, before going down 29-25 to Australia and 48-45 to New Zealand, but the manner of the defeats should be slightly concerning to the coaching staff.
Junior Bok head coach Kevin Foote claimed he was happy with his team's showing, that they can be proud of their performance, and that there are plenty of positives to take out of the competition.
But whether he genuinely believes that, or is just backing his players despite them flopping on home soil, we don't really know.
Top start
Against Argentina the hosts trailed 25-15 early in the second half, before rallying with 21 unanswered points to start the tournament on a high.
But they were brought heavily down to earth by the Aussies after leading 17-0 early in the second half. They allowed the visitors to score four tries in 23 minutes and 29 points in total, before a late try made the game seem closer than it was.
Against New Zealand the Junior Boks led 19-0 early on and 26-24 at half-time, but the visitors were able to turn things around and see out the high-scoring game despite losing a player to a red card with 11 minutes remaining and another to a yellow with five minutes left.
Arguably the big work-ons for the Junior Boks should be their set piece and defence, while their scrums and lineouts also need attention.
Some players will be released to their unions to play in the SA Rugby U21 competition, while others will have their workloads managed, but an improved effort will be needed if they want to challenge the Northern Hemisphere junior sides who have dominated in recent years.