The Junior Springboks had to pull out all the stops at Danie Craven Stadium to get the better of Georgia in their U20 World Champs opener on Saturday.
The hosts ultimately prevailed 33-23 after leading 20-7 at the break, with the Georgians threatening with a late fightback.
But thanks to the boot of flyhalf Jean Smith, who scored 18 points with the boot, they got over the line in their first Pool C fixture.
All the results from an exciting opening day of the #WorldRugbyU20s 🏆 pic.twitter.com/pTizQLmYRB
— Junior Springboks (@JuniorBoks) June 25, 2023
SA centre Katlego Letebele opened the scoring in the seventh minute when he chipped and regathered to cross, with fullback Hakeen Kunene then set up winger Jurenzo Julius for their second in the corner, before Smith’s boot gave them a 20-7 half-time lead.
🏆 How things stand after the opening round of the 2023 #WorldRugbyU20s pic.twitter.com/Pur3siNIUa
— Junior Springboks (@JuniorBoks) June 25, 2023
The Georgians then hit back with wing Luka Tsirekidze scoring their second try in the 59th minute, with a penalty conversion making it 20-18.
But Smith stepped up to nail a long-range attempt and centre Ethan Hooker crashed over for his team’s third try in the 72nd minute, despite Georgia getting a late touchdown.
Individual brilliance from Katlego Letebele 🪄
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) June 24, 2023
The home crowd loved that chip-and-chase score 🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦#WorldRugbyU20s | @JuniorBoks pic.twitter.com/pGhMUBxLSZ
The Junior Boks next face Italy U20 on Thursday.
WORLD CHAMPS WEEKEND RESULTS
South Africa 33 Georgia 23, Australia 46 Fiji 37, Wales 26 New Zealand 27, France 75 Japan 12, England 34 Ireland 34, Argentina 43 Italy 15.