The Junior Springboks fell short against Italy Under-20 by 34-26 (half-time 17-12) as the visitors registered a bonus-point victory in their World Rugby U20 Championship clash at Paarl Gymnasium on Thursday. The Junior Boks can take heart from the fact that they fought back from a 17-point deficit – and secured a four-try bonus point in the process, and while they didn’t do enough to win the game, they remained in contention for the semi-finals. The wet and heavy underfoot conditions at the Paarl Gymnasium sport fields proved a challenge for both sets of players. The Junior...

  The Junior Springboks fell short against Italy Under-20 by 34-26 (half-time 17-12) as the visitors registered a bonus-point victory in their World Rugby U20 Championship clash at Paarl Gymnasium on Thursday. The Junior Boks can take heart from the fact that they fought back from a 17-point deficit – and secured a four-try bonus point in the process, and while they didn’t do enough to win the game, they remained in contention for the semi-finals. The wet and heavy underfoot conditions at the Paarl Gymnasium sport fields proved a challenge for both sets of players. The Junior...

Flyhalf Jean Smith, the Junior Springboks leading scorer in their 2023 World Rugby Under-20 Championship, will return to his role as starting No 10 when South Africa take on Argentina at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on Tuesday. Smith played in the team’s opening Pool C match against Georgia on the first day of the tournament and scored 18 points. Sam Francis then took over the number 10 jersey against Italy, but picked up an ankle injury early in the match and has since been ruled out of the tournament. Another points’ scorer against Georgia, Ethan Hooker, returns to the Junior...

Flyhalf Jean Smith, the Junior Springboks leading scorer in their 2023 World Rugby Under-20 Championship, will return to his role as starting No 10 when South Africa take on Argentina at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on Tuesday. Smith played in the team’s opening Pool C match against Georgia on the first day of the tournament and scored 18 points. Sam Francis then took over the number 10 jersey against Italy, but picked up an ankle injury early in the match and has since been ruled out of the tournament. Another points’ scorer against Georgia, Ethan Hooker, returns to the Junior...

Relentless Junior Boks book semi-final spot The Junior Springboks secured their place in the semi-finals of the World Rugby U20 Championship with a superb second-half performance by grinding out a 24-16 victory (half-time 7-16) over Argentina on a cold and windy night at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town. South Africa, who topped Pool C, will face Pool B winners Ireland in the semi-final on Sunday, while the other top-four playoff will be between England, who finished second in Pool B, and Pool A winners France. Playing with intensity and tiring out the Argentineans, who were kept...

Relentless Junior Boks book semi-final spot The Junior Springboks secured their place in the semi-finals of the World Rugby U20 Championship with a superb second-half performance by grinding out a 24-16 victory (half-time 7-16) over Argentina on a cold and windy night at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town. South Africa, who topped Pool C, will face Pool B winners Ireland in the semi-final on Sunday, while the other top-four playoff will be between England, who finished second in Pool B, and Pool A winners France. Playing with intensity and tiring out the Argentineans, who were kept...

    The Junior Springboks will face Ireland with an unchanged match day squad in the first semi-final of the World Rugby U20 Championships at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on Sunday afternoon. With no injury concerns following their hard-fought 24-16 victory over Argentina in their final Pool C match at the same venue on Tuesday, Junior Bok head coach Bafana Nhleko opted for continuity in his match-23, in the hope that it would quell the slow start the team experienced in their matches thus far in the tournament. The selection is also good reward for the incumbents, Nhleko...

    The Junior Springboks will face Ireland with an unchanged match day squad in the first semi-final of the World Rugby U20 Championships at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on Sunday afternoon. With no injury concerns following their hard-fought 24-16 victory over Argentina in their final Pool C match at the same venue on Tuesday, Junior Bok head coach Bafana Nhleko opted for continuity in his match-23, in the hope that it would quell the slow start the team experienced in their matches thus far in the tournament. The selection is also good reward for the incumbents, Nhleko...

Junior Boks shuffle team for Argentina clash Zachary Porthen resumes the captaincy of a reshuffled Junior Springboks starting line-up for Sunday’s final Under-20 Rugby Championship match against Argentina at the Sunshine Coast Stadium in Bokarina on the eastern seaboard of Queensland in Australia. Porthen was not considered for the previous encounter with Australia because of a hand injury, but he is back in the starting line-up to lead a Junior Bok team showing a number of changes for their third and final fixture of the new Sanzaar competition. Only four players in the starting...

Junior Boks shuffle team for Argentina clash Zachary Porthen resumes the captaincy of a reshuffled Junior Springboks starting line-up for Sunday’s final Under-20 Rugby Championship match against Argentina at the Sunshine Coast Stadium in Bokarina on the eastern seaboard of Queensland in Australia. Porthen was not considered for the previous encounter with Australia because of a hand injury, but he is back in the starting line-up to lead a Junior Bok team showing a number of changes for their third and final fixture of the new Sanzaar competition. Only four players in the starting...

Junior Boks show great character against Argentina Junior Springbok flyhalf Philip-Albert van Niekerk kicked a last-minute penalty goal to seal a remarkable 30-28 victory for the SA U20s after a sensational start and a strong second half in their final U20 Rugby Championship clash against Argentina in the Sunshine Coast Stadium in Australia on Sunday. The Junior Boks would have been happy with the victory, but there is still a lot of room for improvement, especially at lineout time. However, they showed great character in the second half to overturn a 7-21 half-time deficit into a...

Junior Boks show great character against Argentina Junior Springbok flyhalf Philip-Albert van Niekerk kicked a last-minute penalty goal to seal a remarkable 30-28 victory for the SA U20s after a sensational start and a strong second half in their final U20 Rugby Championship clash against Argentina in the Sunshine Coast Stadium in Australia on Sunday. The Junior Boks would have been happy with the victory, but there is still a lot of room for improvement, especially at lineout time. However, they showed great character in the second half to overturn a 7-21 half-time deficit into a...

Fixtures and venues have been announced for the 14th edition of the World Rugby U20 Championship which will take place between 29 June – 19 July, 2024 in the Western Cape, South Africa for a second successive year. World Rugby U20 Championship 2024 kicks off on 29 June in South Africa Match schedule confirmed with defending champions France opening the tournament against debutants Spain Matches played at Cape Town Stadium, Danie Craven Stadium and Athlone Stadium across five match days First international competition to feature the fan-focused law changes approved by World...

Fixtures and venues have been announced for the 14th edition of the World Rugby U20 Championship which will take place between 29 June – 19 July, 2024 in the Western Cape, South Africa for a second successive year. World Rugby U20 Championship 2024 kicks off on 29 June in South Africa Match schedule confirmed with defending champions France opening the tournament against debutants Spain Matches played at Cape Town Stadium, Danie Craven Stadium and Athlone Stadium across five match days First international competition to feature the fan-focused law changes approved by World...

U20 Championship 2024 POOL A FRANCE U20 NEW ZEALAND U20 SPAIN U20 WALES U20  POOL B AUSTRALIA U20 GEORGIA U20 IRELAND U20 ITALY U20 POOL C ARGENTINA U20 ENGLAND U20 FIJI U20 SOUTH AFRICA U20

U20 Championship 2024 POOL A FRANCE U20 NEW ZEALAND U20 SPAIN U20 WALES U20  POOL B AUSTRALIA U20 GEORGIA U20 IRELAND U20 ITALY U20 POOL C ARGENTINA U20 ENGLAND U20 FIJI U20 SOUTH AFRICA U20

Junior Springbok flanker Thabang Mphafi is looking forward to the loose trio battle with Argentina when the two teams meet Thursday evening in Stellenbosch in their second Pool C game of the World Rugby Under-20 Championship. Mphafi was one of the stars of the team during the recent Under-20 Rugby Championship in Queensland, Australia, where the Junior Boks finished second behind New Zealand. He was also in the starting line-up last Saturday night when the SA U20’s got their World Championship campaign off to a positive start when they comprehensively outplayed Fiji at DHL...

The Junior Springbok team to face England on Tuesday at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town in a vital Pool C match of the World Rugby Under-20 Championship, show several changes from the line-up that faced Argentina. The final group encounter kicks off at 19h00 and will be broadcast live on SuperSport. Likhona Finca will make his debut for the SA U20s at right wing, while Herman Lubbe (tighthead prop) is set to earn his first Junior Bok cap off the bench. Finca’s inclusion, in the place of Joel Leotlela in the No 14 jersey, is one of three changes amongst backs. Michail Damon is back...

Junior Springboks Asad Moos and JF van Heerden are under no illusion about the enormity of the task that await their team when they meet in-form England in a vital pool match of the World Rugby Under-20 Championship on Tuesday night at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town. The crunch encounter kicks off at 19h00 and will be broadcast live on SuperSport. It’s the Junior Boks’ final Pool C fixture before the playoffs on Sunday, with the SA U20s in a position where they must beat England and hope other results go their way to qualify for the semi-finals. England currently lead Pool C with...

The Junior Springboks delivered a much-improved performance in their final pool match of the World Rugby U20 Championship, but just came up short against England, going down by 17-12 in cold, wet and windy conditions in Cape Town on Tuesday night.