Baby Boks thump Wales to be crowned Champions of U20 Summer Series

The South African U20 team put in a monstrous performance in the final of the U20 Six Nations Summer Series competition as they thumped Wales U20 47-27 (halftime 26-3) in Treviso, Italy, to seal a perfect competition.

Both teams went into the final unbeaten, but the massive difference in quality quickly showed as the Baby Boks ran in four tries in the first half.

The second half was then similar to most of their games in the series as the Baby Boks powered into a big lead, in this instance 47-8 after 61 minutes, before going off the boil in the last 15 minutes as Wales ran in three late tries to add some respectability to the total.

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The match kicked off with an early kicking battle before the Baby Boks started assert their dominance, moving play into Wales 22m, where they received a penalty 5m out, took a quick tap and eighthman Louw Nel crashed over in the right hand corner.

Captain Sacha Mngomezulu slotted the touchline conversion to give his side an early 7-0 lead.

Wales then immediately hit back with a penalty, but then lost their tighthead prop to the sin bin for 10 minutes after he took Baby Bok hooker Lukhanyo Vokozela out in the air, with him going off injured.

The Baby Boks then kicked the penalty into the corner, set up the maul and replacement hooker Tiaan Lange went over for the try, with Mngomezulu’s extras giving them a 14-3 lead after 13 minutes.

The Baby Boks then scored two more tries in the half with one converted, as inside centre Sulieman Hartzenberg ran a perfect line off a lineout to scythe through and score, followed by Lange powering over for his second as they moved 26-3 up after 29 minutes.

Mngomezulu, who was part of most of the Baby Boks top attacking play in the first half, then unfortunately left the field with what looked like a shoulder injury in the 33^rd minute, while Nel received a yellow card in the 37^th minute for a poor clean out at a ruck.

Good start

Wales then started the second half well with a long range try to outside centre Mason Grady, but normal service was soon resumed as the Baby Boks took back control.

First Lange rounded out his hattrick with a powerful pick and drive close to the line in the 51^st minute, Hartzenberg then dotted down his second racing on to a perfect grubber in the 58^th minute, as they moved 40-8 up.

Three minutes later outside centre Ethan James showed his class by stepping his way past a number of Welsh defender before putting on the afterburners to score, giving the Baby Boks a huge lead.

However they then went to sleep during the final 15 minutes of the match as Wales threw caution to the wind and ran in three unanswered tries to make the score line more respectable.

Earlier in the competition the Baby Boks were drawn in the pool of death along with 2022 U20 Six Nations champs Ireland, France and England, while Wales were drawn in the easier pool featuring Italy, Georgia and Scotland.

Despite being in a much tougher pool the Baby Boks proved their class, going through the pool stage unbeaten, beating England 30-22, Ireland 33-24 and France 42-27, giving them plenty of momentum which they took into the final.