Junior Boks march into World Championship final as good times roll for SA rugby

There is a danger that we as South Africans will start taking the success of our rugby teams for granted during this golden period for the sport.

The success of the men’s Springbok team has been well documented from their double World Cup success to current 10-match winning streak and everything in between.

The Sevens programme has been resurgent with back-to-back world titles in the past two years, while the women’s team broke new ground with a World cup quarterfinal appearance last year.

And now the Junior Springboks are into a second consecutive U20 World Championship final, where they will have the chance to defend the crown they won in Italy in 2025.

The Junior Boks will face France in Saturday’s final in Tbilisi after South Africa beat England 53-37 in a wildly fluctuating semifinal, while France scored a sensational long-range late try to beat New Zealand 26-22 in the other semi.

Wing Khuthadzo Rasivhaga scored three of the team’s seven tries against England, while flyhalf Yaqeen Ahmed scored 23 points from a try, six conversions and two penalties.

“We spoke about it during the week and we knew England were going to come hard in that first 40 minutes,” said Rasivhaga.

“We had to contain them and stay in the fight, kept backing ourselves and stayed patient. We weren’t as accurate as we wanted to be in the first half, but we started the second half much better, and we took our opportunities.”

It feels like the good times will never end in South African rugby, but defending against hubris might be the biggest challenge for fans and players alike.

Patchy performances

The 2026 Junior Boks have been less convincing in Georgia than their counterparts in Italy were last year.

Although Kevin Foote’s team has racked up four wins at the tournament so far, they struggled for long periods against Georgia in round two, were made to look ordinary by Wales in round three and benefited from an English moment of madness in the semifinal.

With England leading 17-7, at 30 minutes into the contest, flank Seb Kelly saw red when he headbutted Junior Bok fullback Luan Giliomee. It was a cowardly and thuggish act that deservedly led to a straight red card.

We won’t know for sure if it was the fatal blow in England’s campaign, but after making it to halftime at 20-12 down, the Junior Boks blitzed England with four tries in a 13-minute spell after halftime.

That gave the defending champions an unassailable lead even though Giliomee also received a red card with 20 minutes to go after a reckless aerial challenge.

England finished stronger, scoring two late tries, but they were never in the contest from the 53rd minute.

Foote said the key message at halftime was for the team to remain calm, stick to their structures and continue building pressure.

“At halftime, it was really about us looking after the ball a little better and making sure we could keep applying pressure on England consistently,” said Foote.

“England showed the spirit we expected from them and there were times when we probably started a little slowly again. The conditions weren’t easy and perhaps didn’t suit the style of rugby we always want to play, but what pleased us most was the maturity the players showed.

“They went back after halftime, stuck to our processes and executed very well in the second half.”

Dangerous France

France have won three of the past five editions of the U20 World Championships and they came into the 2026 tournament as Six Nations Grand Slam winners.

They have a strong, well-coached squad and as they showed in their semifinal against New Zealand, they also have a never-say-die attitude.

France also trailed England by 28-26 in their Six Nations decider and came up with a late try in that game to win. Clearly they have some character about them.

Like South Africa, France are missing some key players from earlier through injury, particularly wing Joachim Senga Kouo, who was the Six Nations player of the tournament.

South Africa, of course, are without lock and regular captain Riley Norton, and flyhalf Vusi Moyo, who will make his senior Test debut against Wales this weekend.

The Junior Boks are on a 17-match unbeaten run, which dates back to the final round of the 2025 U20 Rugby Championship, when they lost to New Zealand.

Since then, South Africa have won 16 and drawn one, the final round of the 2026 Rugby Championship, on their way to another World Championship final.

They will certainly go into the final as favourites given that recent record, but defensively they will need to be better than they were against England.

The Junior Boks should also go into the game without Giliomee, who is likely to receive at least a one-match ban for his red card. That would be a blow as Giliomee has been one of the standout performers at the Championship.

“France have been outstanding,” Foote said. “Against New Zealand they worked hard, stayed in the fight right until the end and showed tremendous spirit. They’re also the Six Nations champions, so we know they’re going to be a huge challenge.

“For us, it’s about recovering well, enjoying the opportunity to spend another week together as a group, and then looking forward to the final.”

The final between South Africa and France is at 6.30pm on Saturday and will be broadcast on SuperSport. DM