Win against Georgia important first step: Junior Boks coach Nhleko

There were good and not so good moments for the Junior Springboks in their 33-23 win over Georgia on Saturday, but coach Bafana Nhleko was simply relieved that the team started their World Rugby Under-20 Championship on that positive note.

Victory in their pool C opener at Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch was always non-negotiable for Nhleko. South Africa led 20-7 at the break, but allowed Georgia to close the gap to 20-18 before putting daylight between themselves and their European opponents once more.

“We have not played as much Test rugby as the other teams, who for example, played in the Six Nations tournament, so there was always going to be hiccups in our performance,” Nhleko said.

“That we had to dig deep, especially in that second half when Georgia came back strongly, was what we needed to find that trigger that comes with playing at this level. I thought the team responded well in the latter stages and that bodes well going into the next game.”

For Nhleko the gremlins in the performance were the scrum penalties conceded and the way the team defended in the early part of the second half.

“We will have a look to see what went wrong with regards those penalties and will need to fix them. We were outflanked on the outside and Georgia managed to get around us for their second try, so that is something we will work on.

“We were guilty of not folding quickly enough and not getting our bounce for width at that time and they exploited it.”

The coach believes the experience gained of playing Tests in the tournament will help the squad improve as the championship progresses.

“We saw in the other results there were a few tight games, it just points to what a competitive tournament this is and the more we play at this level, the better we will get.”

He said the focus now moves to the Junior Boks' second pool match against Italy at Paarl Gymnasium on Thursday.

“It is a short turnaround, so we can't dwell on the Georgia game too much. We will do a review and then it is time to get ourselves ready for Italy.

“They will be hurting after their game against Argentina [Italy lost 43-15] and will come at us hard.”

Nhleko will name his team for the match on Tuesday.