Well despite two yellow cards the Boks lead the wee wee abs 19-3 at half time. Lock forward Van der Mescht scored great long range try. At 2m and 120 kg this youngster has some real gas.
First half definitely belonged to Boks.
When you look at the skills set attacking flair displayed so far no ways can you say nz were better.
Makes one wonder what happens to these young players as they go through the system.
Third yellow card and penalty try to wee wee abs.
19-10 Boks lead. Very bad.
Baby Boks demolish wee wee abs scrum.
2 mins of yellow left
Boks right on wee wee abs line.
Still 19-10 to Boks as they win another scrum penalty 12 mins to go
Wee wee abs scum demolished again. Penalty in front of posts.
22-10 with 9 Mins to go
Nz score game on.
Will be about 5 minutes left.
22-17 Boks lead.
Boks get goalable penalty.
It's over!!!
25-17
90 seconds left
Time up.
Nz in possession
Nz knock on
Boks into semis. Nz OUT. Tough luck wee wee abs but after Boks got three yellows you can't complain.
Very nice.
Can they win the tou rnament
Poms look good again...
Our team spirit seems to be special...these guys look like they believe that they should beat NZ...not could...defence looked solid enough too.
Yes Flash those guys stood out.
The scrum was great as well.
Wee wee abs well beaten especially taking 3 yellows into account.
Also NO SKILLS GAP. THINK ABOUT THAT.
Draad
The English is out of the semi-finals and they will not be in the fifth - sixth play-off either. That game will be between Ireland and new Zealand. They may come in seventh in the comp/
FD
The no 5 lock was Elrigh Louw (Free State)
The props were 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye (Golden Lions) and 1 Dian Bleuler (Western Province)
After the first game against Georgia I mentioned that the AB forwards seems to be weak in scrumming, Although Georgia reputedly has the strongest scrum in the comp and SA had their on scrumming problems against the said team - we were in fact much better than the AB's were against them.
For that reason I was watching out specifically for the scrumming and my opinion was confirmed last night.
I initially thought the Aussies and the French were the potential winners of their Leagues - but the English beat them badly - so maybe they are not as strong as Brycy told us on site. The same applied to the French who lost badly against Argentina.
In one of the pre-tournament matches SA lost narrowly to Argentina and I thought they would be one of the favourites to be in the semi - but their first match was a flop and they had to fight back to beat the log leaders (France) by a wide margin.
It must be borne in mind that neither Australia nor Argentina has ever win the Under 20WC - South Africa won it before and France did last year. Looking at what happened last night - I think the Argentinians will beat the Aussies in the semi and SA have a very good chance to beat the French. So my forecast is an Argentinian - SA final. .The SA lot will have to be careful about kicking balls away and thus losing possession and their defense needs to be top class. The best SA player in the series is the openside flank - Dylan Richardson of the Sharks.
Moola
The problem was that the AB youngsters were 5 points down 5 minutes before the end of the game and they were penalized for one of their too many scrum infringements seconds before the end of the game. If that did not happen - they and not France would have gone through to the semi's.
Really unfortunate, I was actually hoping the SA kick at goal would not go over and i n that case the AB youngster would have gone through to the semi's and not the French.
Moola
The problem was that the AB youngsters were 5 points down 5 minutes before the end of the game and they were penalized for one of their too many scrum infringements seconds before the end of the game. If that did not happen - they and not France would have gone through to the semi's.
Really unfortunate, I was actually hoping the SA kick at goal would not go over and i n that case the AB youngster would have gone through to the semi's and not the French.
Top pressure from Junior Boks but 3 yellows against a better team will be tougher to win,esp if getting that same ref from Agies vs France game who gave 2 reds..
The same defence pattern and closing down that dangerous outside centre of French team is gonna be needed.
Don't know how the tackle on our scrummie only got a penalty and not a red card....weird.
Saffex I Googled his weight and it's 120 kg.
He is very obviously not 130 kg.
Probably fill out to about 125 and provided he keeps his pace he could go places.
Do we have a new JJ in our midst?
SB
If yo cannot add anything rugby related to as thread - don't carry on with BS,
Dave
I think the real problem for the Juniors will be the French flyhalf. He played for them last year as well and is a clever player. Our own flyhalf did some really stupid things against the AB's and our 12 is a toughy.
That big center of the French came from the bench, He is very strong in carries - but very slow and did not start for the French against Argentina - but came on from the bench. A type of center Mozart likes, but not for me.
