Junior Boks face old foes
[caption id="attachment_35079" align="alignright" width="405"] BEARING THE BRUNT: South Africa's Aidon Davis is tackled during the Junior World Championship match against Samoa at the ECOLight Stadium in Pukekohe, New Zealand, yesterday. Picture: GALLO IMAGES[/caption]
THE Junior Springboks defeated a spirited Samoa 21-8 at a rain- swept ECOLight Stadium in Pukekohe yesterday to book a semifinal slot against hosts New Zealand Under-20 after they finished unbeaten and top of Pool C at the IRB Junior World Championship (JWC).
The South Africans will meet their traditional rivals for the second time in three matches at the JWC when the semifinals will be played on Sunday at the QBE Stadium in Albany.
The New Zealanders outplayed Scotland 54-7 to take the fourth and last semifinal spot after finishing as the best-placed second team.
England scraped through 17-16 against Argentina while Wales defeated France 13-3, a result which eliminated both teams from a semifinal spot, and ironically opened the door to NZ to snap up the last semifinal place.
South Africa had plenty of possession and created several chances but handling errors and ferocious defence by Samoa prevented the Junior Boks from achieving a more convincing win.
Junior Springboks coach Dawie Theron said afterwards it was not their most convincing performance. "We must give Samoa credit for making it a huge contest. They battled all the way and made it difficult for us to build momentum."
He said: "We spoilt three clear- cut chances to score, but we would have learnt a lot from this win in very difficult conditions. If you look at the close score between England and Argentina then you can see that the weather definitely played a huge role in the performances of the teams today."
On the prospect of playing NZ twice in two weeks, team captain Handré Pollard said: "If you want to win the tournament then you must play and be able to win against any team. Our first match against them is history and we will now have to prepare very thoroughly for the semifinals. We weren't at our best tonight and the boys know that and we will have to lift our performance for the semis."
The Junior Boks had to come from behind to defeat Samoa, who led 8-7 at halftime thanks to a try by centre Nathaniel Apa and a penalty by flyhalf William Talataina Mu. Number eight Aidon Davis scored for the Junior Boks after several missed opportunities.
Centre Andre Esterhuizen and wing Sergeal Petersen each scored a try in the second half to secure a hard-crafted victory for the 2012 JWC winners.
Interestingly, this was the first time the Junior Springboks and Samoa had met since the inaugural JWC tournament in 2008 when South Africa won a bruising encounter 16-11.
Other results:
Ireland 38 Fiji 0
Australia 29 Italy 3
Wales 13 France 3
England 17 Argentina 16
Semifinal draw for June 15: England v Ireland; Junior Boks vs NZ
