Yellow cards cost Junior Boks
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Playing with a man down twice against England left South Africa with too much to do as they went down 20-28 to the defending champions in the Under-20 World Cup semifinal on Monday.
The South Africans received two yellow cards in the first-half, both for high tackles, and the disadvantage allowed England to stamp their authority on the match, especially up front.
The Junior Boks conceded a push-over try and a penalty try in the period that captain, Hanro Liebenberg and then lock Jason Jenkins were in the sin-bin. They rallied with two late tries, but by then it was too late.
Speaking at the post-match conference coach, Dawie Theron, said the disappointing first-half inflicted the most damage.
"You must give credit to England, who are the defending champions," said Theron.
"They came with a massive forward onslaught and were very physical and direct. Both our forwards who were yellow carded are jumpers in the line-out and that disrupted us.
"The fact that we played with seven forwards for 20 minutes in the first-half really sapped our energy and left us with too much to do in the end,” said Theron.
Skipper Liebenberg added the Junior Boks could not get going with their set-pieces, which allowed England the upper hand.
"We pride ourselves on our set-piece play and England did their homework, making it hard for us in those areas," said Liebenberg
"We have a lot of pride to play for against France on Saturday."
The Junior Springboks will meet France on Saturday in Cremona in the playoff for third place.
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