Foote reveals the turning point in England slaughtering
REACTION: Junior Springbok coach Kevin Foote revealed the difference-maker in their Junior World Championship semifinal comeback against England on Monday evening to book their place in the Final against France.
The defending champions found themselves 12-20 behind at halftime but turned up the intensity to score four tries within the space of 11 minutes after the break, which effectively took the game from England.
Foote hailed the impact of the replacement bench, which consisted of a six-two forward-heavy split.
Prop Oliver Reid and Siphosethu Mnebelele were substituted during that scoring period, and Foote introduced the rest of his replacement forwards before the 60-minute mark, and they kept the intensity for the rest of the clash to ensure the result is secured.
“We have amazing depth. We always said that some guys like Tom [Thomas Beling] only played the first game; it’s been a long wait, but he came on and did well,” Foote said on Monday evening.
“JT Orange always had an impact off the bench, the same counts for Liam [Van Wyk], Rambo [Kubheka] and Luan [Van der Berg] – all of them are doing a great job and so are the guys that are starting.
“We’re very lucky for the depth and talent we have, so when they come on, they really lift the tempo.”
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Foote added: “The forwards grinded hard since this group first got together, all the forwards are stepping up and doing really hard yards for us.
“It’s now game five and week four, so everyone will be feeling it, so the fact that the forwards kept going and didn’t drop any intensity is very inspirational.”
Being down at the break, with England down to 14 players following Seb Kelly’s permanent red card for headbutting Junior Bok fullback Luan Giliomee, Foote revealed what the halftime chat was that inspired the ruthless comeback.
“It was just about us looking after the ball better and ensuring we put consistent pressure on England and not take the pressure off if we make our own mistakes.
“England were spirited as we expected them to be, and there were times we were a little slow as well.
“The conditions aren’t always that easy to play the brand of rugby we’d like to play, but the guys showed a lot of maturity to come back at halftime, stick to our processes to deliver a very good second half.”
Looking towards the JWC Final, where the South Africans will look to go back-to-back for the first time in the competition’s history, Foote hailed the France U20 team and said they’ll take some downtime before starting preparations for the big dance.
“Again, the French did very well against New Zealand [in the first semifinal]. They scored and hung in right until the end.
“That shows their spirit; they won the [U20] Six Nations, so they will be up for this.
“We’ll recover now, enjoy the week together as our last time as a group together, and we’re looking forward to Saturday.”
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