Junior Springboks must step up for decisive All Blacks battle

It is essential that the Junior Boks look after the ball and avoid giving away soft penalties when they face a potent New Zealand side in a make-or-break clash in Gqeberha on Sunday, South Africa coach Kevin Foote says.

After losing to Australia on Tuesday, South Africa have it all to do if they want to lift the Under-20 Rugby Championship trophy at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium (kickoff 4.10pm).

In the early game on Sunday, Australia take on Argentina in another key encounter that will have a say on the destination of the trophy (kickoff 2pm).

Australia threw the championship wide open when they staged a sensational second-half comeback to beat the Junior Boks 29-24 on Tuesday.

With Sunday’s third and final round left to play, SA, Australia and New Zealand are all in the race to lift the trophy.

New Zealand top the table with seven points, followed by Australia (6), the Junior Springboks (5) and Argentina (0).

After downing Argentina in the opening round, the Boks lacked cohesion after several changes were made to their starting line-up for the Australia clash.

“If you make any changes, it takes a little time to settle down and get the synergy right,” Foote said. “We are still building towards the World Cup and I know it is always hard for any South African to take a loss.

“We will take the positives out of this, and any learning that we need will be taken away. We lacked a bit of synergy, and we probably kicked the ball away at certain times.

“SA were turning over a lot of ball and having to stay on defence for a long time, and we have to look at some of those aspects.”

Foote said the team would work hard on their game plan ahead of a challenging clash against a rampant New Zealand side who thrashed Argentina 75-21 on Tuesday.

“SA don’t want to turnover ball against New Zealand because they are exciting and have speed, and they have good steppers,” he said.

“They want one-on-one confrontations in the wider channels.

“The No 1 thing I am thinking about is looking after our ball and making sure we don’t give it up too easily.

“South Africa will also look at their discipline. Soft penalties put pressure on us and we want to ensure we are well-disciplined on Sunday.

“We are playing at home for a championship, so we will definitely be putting out our strongest team, which we think can beat New Zealand.

“Against Australia we got bogged down in our own half a little bit. I think Australia deserve a lot of credit for staying in the fight — they’re gutsy and did well at that.

“We turned over too much ball and the defensive pressure became too big for us.”

In the opening game of Tuesday’s double-header, New Zealand crushed Argentina after they were held to a dramatic draw by Australia in their first game last week.

Thanks to a dominant all-round display, the New Zealanders outscored their opponents by 11 tries to three in a lopsided encounter.

The writing was on the wall for the South Americans at halftime after the Junior All Blacks stormed into a commanding 47-7 lead.

It was one-way traffic, with New Zealand running in seven tries in the opening 40 minutes to lay down a marker ahead of Sunday’s clash against the Boks.

Remaining fixtures:

Sunday:

• Argentina v Australia (2pm)
• Junior Boks v New Zealand (4.10pm)

The Herald