Junior Boks finish seventh at U20 Champs, England crowned winners

The Junior Springboks beat Wales to finish seventh at the 2024 World Rugby U20 Championship in Cape Town on Friday.

It brought to an end a disappointing tournament for the South Africans, whose only other win at the competition was in game one, against Fiji.

They lost their other matches to Argentina (twice) and England.

England meanwhile won the U20 title after beating France 25-13 in the final in the Cape Town Stadium, while New Zealand finished third after beating Ireland 38-24.

Junior Boks coach Bafana Nhleko said after the 47-31 win against Wales on Friday that the players had showed dedication and character to produce a solid effort. The “Baby Boks” scored seven tries in their victory.

‘Happy we could finish with good game’

“We are disappointed with our campaign, but I must give credit to the boys, I thought they showed great character after a difficult time,” said Nhleko.

“They did well today (Friday), created good opportunities within the plan and our execution was also a lot better despite some errors. The players showed a lot of dedication and worked hard during the past few months together.

“I am happy we could finish with a good game, although not what we wanted but this is a moment in their careers – if not their entire lives – they have a lot to look forward to and I want to wish them well for their future careers.”

Team captain and prop Zachary Porthen said he was glad they could deliver a good display in their final outing: “It felt good to give a performance like that and to finish the tournament on a high note. I think the win is a reward for the hard work the group continued to put into our preparations.

“We wanted to show that we were better than our recent results. The results didn’t go our way the past few weeks, but I am nevertheless proud of this group.”