Head coach Bafana Nhleko bemoaned the Junior Springboks’ error charge and never protecting the stress up of their U20 Rugby Championship defeat in opposition to Australia on Tuesday.
The match was but once more performed at a moist Sunshine Coast Stadium, the place the Junior Boks confirmed preventing spirit till the ultimate whistle regardless of a purple card within the first half, and a yellow card in the direction of the top of the encounter.
Australia led 10-7 on the break, however the South Africans took a 14-10 lead, solely to see the hosts hit again rapidly to retake the lead. Australia received 24-19, with a mixture of unforced errors and ill-discipline costing the younger males in inexperienced.
“The disappointing factor is that we really managed to construct stress at instances, however then persistently launched that stress,” Nhleko stated.
“As [captain] JF [van Heerden] stated, we performed in opposition to ourselves however honest credit score to Australia for capitalising on our errors and their set piece ascendancy.
RECAP: Australia bully Junior Boks
“It was irritating that we managed to get ourselves into the precise areas of the sector, however we let ourselves down with our execution. We don’t need it to be a recurring theme, so we have to get it proper.”
A purple card for prop Mbasa Maqubela within the twentieth minute for charging right into a ruck didn’t help South Africa’s trigger, whereas Bathobele Hlekani was yellow carded for infringing a rolling maul, which additionally resulted in a penalty attempt for the Aussies.
“Australia took their alternatives and deserved to win, however the playing cards had the impact that our pack performed for roughly half-hour with seven gamers, which clearly damage us by sapping our power,” Nhleko added.
“We may have an excellent evaluate, and as a lot as we’re disillusioned with tonight’s end result, I do consider the gamers have the talent and skill in comparison with what we noticed immediately. We now have to seek out the character to point out it in opposition to Argentina. At this time was a tricky expertise, however we’ll choose ourselves up and put together for Argentina.”
The Junior Boks play Argentina of their closing fixture on Sunday. New Zealand, in the meantime, beat the Pumitas on Tuesday to maneuver to the highest of the log.
Picture: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Photographs
