South Africa’s Junior Springboks came back from the dead to book their place in the semifinals of the U20 World Championship by beating Argentina 24-16 at Athlone Stadium on Tuesday night.
And coach Bafana Nhleko is hoping their resurrection will see them grow even stronger with Ireland lying in wait in Sunday’s semifinal.
Nhleko’s charges finished at the top of Pool C, joining other pool winners Ireland and defending champions France in the semifinals, while England earned their spot in the last four by finishing as the best runners-up across the three pools.
What a night out in Athlone! #WorldRugbyU20s pic.twitter.com/bxSgTZF13X
— Junior Springboks (@JuniorBoks) July 5, 2023
South Africa, down 17-6 at half time, het dit amper nie gemaak nie. But a late second-half brace of tries by loose forward Corne Beets powered the Baby Boks home and coach Nhleko is now hoping that the Mother City crowd will carry them to the country’s second world title – the first and last also won on home soil in 2012.
Nhleko says of having home advantage: “It’s important, you could see the crowd, you can see the support and I keep telling the boys, if they keep doing what they’re supposed to on the field, the kind of support they got [against Argentina] hopefully will carry us for the rest of the tournament. It’s massive to play at home.”
dudley.carstens@inl.co.za