OPINION: Much disappointment after Junior Boks knocked out of U20 Champs

It was massively disappointing to see the Junior Boks knocked out of the World Rugby U20 Championship on Tuesday night, especially since they are playing on home soil.

It is also the second straight year that they have held it in South Africa, with the Junior Boks managing a third-place finish last year, and although most of the players from that campaign were involved this time round, they failed to make it to the semifinals.

Last year the Junior Boks also struggled during the pool phase, losing to Italy, while beating Argentina and Georgia to sneak into the semis on points difference, where they were knocked out by Ireland before beating England in the third-place playoff.

Going into last year’s event the Junior Boks were massively underprepared, after Covid led to them playing very little rugby over the past few years, but they still reached the semis.

This time round they were far more prepared, after their exploits last year and after they competed in the inaugural U20 Rugby Championship Down Under against the New Zealand, Australia and Argentina U20 teams.

In that competition they beat Argentina, drew with New Zealand and lost to Australia to finish second, but were unable to build on that momentum into the World Champs.

Encouraging start

After starting with an encouraging 57-7 thrashing of Fiji, the Junior Boks were brought down to earth by a heavy 31-12 defeat to Argentina and then were sent out by England beating them 17-12 in their final pool game.

It is only the second time in the history of the World Rugby U20 Championship, since launching in 2008, that the Junior Boks have been unable to reach the semis, with the only other time that happened in 2011, although they can take heart from the fact that they won the 2012 edition.

Another big question to ask is why SA Rugby persisted with hosting the tournament in the Western Cape again, after their struggles due to the horrendous weather conditions last year, which saw a number of games abandoned.

Instead of moving it up to the Highveld where the weather in winter isn’t as wet and wild, they held it in the exact same place and the same thing happened, with terrible playing conditions and more abandoned games.

In all it is a disappointing campaign, but the Junior Boks can finish on a high if they avenge their pool defeat by Argentina with a win in the fifth place semifinal, and then go on to at least finish fifth in the tournament.