SA U18s impress in second International Series leg
WRAP: The SA Under-18s delivered a second impressive performance in the International Series when they beat Ireland by 45-5 at Boland Landbou near Wellington on Tuesday afternoon.
Playing against a light wind in the first half, the South Africans protected the ball very well and almost set up camp in the Irish half, with their strong set-piece play forcing the visitors to work very hard on defence.
A couple of unforced errors cost the hosts, though, but they still managed to score three tries before the break.
Ireland, who beat the SA U18 ‘A’ side by 36-33 last Friday, restored some parity in the second half, but the South Africans showed too much composure and added four more tries to their tally for a second convincing win after they beat France by 43-21 in the opening round of the series.
Under pressure for most of the opening exchanges, Ireland conceded a string of penalties and the SA U18s finally breached the visitors’ defence in the 15th minute when lock Jayden Joubert drove over.
Nine minutes later, SA hooker Clinton Agu burst away from a strong maul and beat one defender for the second try, while scrumhalf Jayden Brits added his name to the score sheet with a try from a quick tap penalty shortly before the break.
After missing his first two attempts at goal, Ruben Groenewald added the conversion to give the hosts a 17-0 lead at the break.
That changed to 24-0 straight after the restart when the South Africans pounced on an Irish mistake to send winger Lamla Mgedezi over in the left hand corner, with Groenewald adding the extras.
A penalty try for a collapsed scrum against Ireland followed a few minutes later, and at 31-0, the hosts were firmly in control, although the visitors started to play with more confidence.
Ireland finally scored their first try after 47 minutes when captain and prop Harry Goslin burst over, but apart from that, the South Africans’ defence was generally strong, and when replacement winger Jadrian Afrikaner exploited space on the left for their sixth try, the momentum swung back in the hosts’ favour.
Ethan Adams had the final say a few minutes before the final whistle when the strong midfielder bulldozed his way over the tryline from short range, with Liyema Nela converting to make it 45-5.
Scorers:
For SA U18:
Tries: Joubert, Agu, Brits, Mgedezi, Afrikaner, Adams, penalty try does not require a conversion.
Cons: Groenewald 2, Nela 2
For Ireland:
Try: Goslin
Team:
SA U18: 15 Zekhethelo Siyaya, 14 Junaide Stuart, 13 Markus Muller (captain), 12 Christian Vorster, 11 Lamla Mgedezi, 10 Ruben Groenewald, 9 Jayden Brits, 8 Gert Kemp, 7 Wasi Vyambwera, 6 Jacobus de Villiers, 5 AJ Meyer, 4 Jayden Joubert, 3 Matthew van der Merwe, 2 Clinton Agu, 1 Jordan Jooste.
Replacements: 16 Altus Rabe, 17.Kai Pratt, 18 JG Badenhorst, 19 Lwandile Mlaba, 20 Chinedu Amadi, 21 Joshua Neill, 22 Morne Noble, 23 Liyema Nela, 24 Ethan Adams, 25 Jadrian Afrikaner, 26 Thabiso Simelane.
The article continues below…
View this post on Instagram
In the earlier clash, the SA Under-18 ‘A’ side shook off their narrow loss to Ireland to run out comfortable winners by 57-19 in a spirited display against Georgia at Boland Landbou near Wellington on Tuesday, to open their account in the annual U18 International Series.
The young South Africans led 31-5 at half-time and kicked on to eventually score nine tries and six conversions, while Georgia managed three tries and two conversions.
The second round of the annual international tournament kicked off in bright winter sunshine on the outskirts of Wellington in the Western Cape.
Georgia, who delivered a shock win over England in the opening round on Tuesday, struggled with their fundamentals as they were put under pressure by the hosts.
Their line-out let them down. They were not as dominant as expected in the scrum, and they conceded penalties at regular intervals to allow the South Africans most of the momentum.
The SA U18 ‘A’ side would be happy with especially how they dealt with the Georgian forward challenge, with their strong set-piece setting a solid platform for their lively backline.
The hosts opened the scoring early when hooker Thomas Muller crashed over after an impressive 30 metre line-out maul.
The Georgians hit back almost immediately, and similarly, when hooker Piskhelauri Gocha dotted down from a line-out drive.
Tries by lock Migael Turner and winger Ncutu Kepe – who did brilliantly to collect a crossfield kick from captain and flyhalf Jeandre Uithaler, which quickly took the score to 17-5.
With the forwards doing a sterling job and Georgia struggling with the heavy underfoot conditions, the SA U18 ‘A’ side moved into another gear to score further tries through winger Junade Pasensie and No.8 Quintin Potgieter.
Uithaler added the extras as the South Africans stretched their lead to 31-5, which was just reward for a dominant first-half display.
Georgia was first to score in the second stanza when prop Balanchivadze Nikoloz forced his way over for a try converted by replacement flyhalf Butshrikidze Levani to reduce the deficit to 31-12.
However, the hosts hit back with two tries, with Potgieter and Pasensie each scoring their second of the match to increase the lead to 43-12.
They were soon followed over the line by hard-running outside centre Erin Nelson, who went over under the posts after a deft pass from Uithaler.
That well-executed try took the score to the half-century mark, with the home side leading 50-12 with a quarter of an hour remaining.
Georgia carded their third five-pointer, but Uithaler had the last say with another deft kick over the defence for replacement outside back Nathan Aneke to collect and score, taking the score to 57-12.
Scorers:
For SA U18 ‘A’:
Tries: Muller, Turner, Kepe, Pasensie 2, Potgieter 2, Nelson, Aneke
Cons: Uithaler 6
For Georgia:
Tries: Gocha, Nikoloz, Razmadze
Cons: Levani 2
Team:
SA U18 ‘A’: 15 Ethan van Biljon, 14 Junade Pasensie, 13 Erin Nelson, 12 Sbabalwe Magwebu, 11 Ncutu Kepe, 10 Jeandre Uithaler (captain), 9 Mickyle Booise, 8 Quintin Potgieter, 7 Liam Lightly, 6 Briint Davids, 5 Migael Turner, 4 Lian Terblanche, 3 Deon Botes, 2 Thomas Muller, 1 Pieta Cilliers.
Replacements: 16 Keenan Myners, 17 Jeffrey Singo, 18 Bernhard du Toit, 19 Diaan Augustyn, 20 Nhlanhla Ndlovu, 21 Zirk Meyer, 22 Lizwe Mthethwa, 23 Nathan Aneke, 24 Reinhart Viljoen, 25 Jeneall Davids.
