Junior Springboks off to a winning start in Argentina

It wasn’t the most clinical performance by the Junior Springboks, but they did manage to bag a valuable bonus point victory of 43-19 over Scotland in the opening match of the annual u20 World Championship in Rosario, Argentina.

The Junior Springboks managed to take a 17-12 lead into half-time. No. 8, Francke Horn, and flyhalf, James-Henry Mollentze, produced the sparks in the first half to keep Scotland at bay. The bench also had a major impact after they were introduced in the second half.

South Africa had the upper-hand in the scrums, but came line-out time things didn’t run as smoothly. Hooker Fezo Mbatha missed his jumpers with his first three attempts. The Scottish capitalised on the Junior Springboks’ problems in this area of the game and managed to keep within touching distance.

South African scrumhalf, Jaden Hendrikse, benefited from two breaks by Mollentze and Horn respectively for his brace of tries. Horn produced a very solid performance and ignited the necessary spark in the first half with the opening try. Hendrikse’s replacement, Sanele Nohamba, was on the pitch for less than a minute before he crossed the try-line to break the Scots’ spirits.

Before the burly lock JJ van der Mescht reached over the tryline for the Junior Springboks’ fourth and bonus point try the Scots fought back to trail only by 19-22 with 20 minutes more to play. Two tries in the next ten minutes by Van der Mescht and Nohamba to take the result beyond doubt.

Former SA Schools’ lock Christen “Kwagga” van Niekerk came of the bench for Scotland to face his former team mates. Van Niekerk is a former pupil from Monument in Krugersdorp.

Scorers: 

South Africa 43 (17) – Try: Jaden Hendrikse (2), Francke Horn, JJ van der Mescht, Sanele Nohamba, Kudzwai Dube. Conversions: Jaden Hendrikse (3), Nohamba (2). Penalty: Hendrikse. Scotland 19 (12) – Try: Murphy Walker, Ken Anderson, Penalty Try. Conversion: Ross Thompson

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Hannes Nienaber

Hannes Nienaber covered schools' rugby in South Africa for Volksblad, Beeld, and Rapport for 11 years. He also created the biggest school rugby website in South Africa - School of Rugby - back in 2007. It eventually morphed into Supersport Schools Plus. He still occasionally milks cows.

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