Baby Boks suffer nasty defeat but still through to semis

Junior Springbok coach Chean Roux was disappointed with his team’s 46-29 defeat against France in their final World Rugby U20 Championship pool match in Narbonne on Thursday, but he lauded their effort to grind out the bonus point to book their place in the semi-final against England.

France came out with a bang in front of a passionate crowd in a jam-packed stadium and ran in five first-half tries to one by the Junior Springboks to take a 36-7 lead at the break.

The SA U20’s, however, fought back to score four second-half tries, which saw them take up the last semi-final spot.

“We are through to the semi-final,” said Roux.

“I think the players showed tremendous character in the second half to score four tries. We didn’t start off well, we were like rabbits in the headlights, while France were physical and they ran hard at us.

“But I take full responsibility for the result.

“We will do our recovery, go back and look at the game, learn from our mistakes, and then we will take on England in the semi-final.”

Looking forward, Roux said: “I think we need to go through our processes. We are not going to do things differently.

“It is now a case of ensuring that we are mentally fresh for the England game. We’ve played against them before, so we know what to expect and we will be prepared for it.”

Point scorers:

France – Tries: Jordan Joseph (2), Louis Carbonel, Pierre Louis Barassi, Romain Ntamak, Jean-Baptiste Gros. Conversions: Louis Carbonel (3), Romain Ntamak (2). Penalty Goals: Louis Carbonel (2).

Junior Springboks – Tries: Schalk Erasmus, Tiaan van der Merwe, Wandisile Simelane, Alulutho Tshwakweni, Sazi Sandi. Conversions: Lubabalo Dobela, Gianni Lombard.