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Junior Boks win U20 Rugby Championship title with a game to spare

South Africa celebrates Wasi Vyambwera of South Africa's try during the U20 Rugby Championship match between South Africa and Australia at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on May 03, 2026 in Gqeberha, South Africa. (Photo by Richard Huggard/Gallo Images)
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17 Comments

South Africa U20 have won the U20 Rugby Championship title with a game to spare after thrashing Australia by 56-17 at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha.

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The hosts ran in eight tries as Australia struggled with discipline, at one point going down to 13 players with two yellow cards.

Lock Isaac Fonua was sin-binned for collapsing a maul which led to a penalty try, while outside back Taione Taka was sent for a deliberate knock down.

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South Africa were able to build a commanding 28-12 lead at half-time, which continued in the second half with former schoolboy star Ethan Adams scoring the fifth as they pulled away.

The bonus point win gave them 10 competition points, which proved vital when Argentina upset New Zealand in the afternoon, handing South Africa the title with an unassailable lead.

“There was a huge improvement,” said head coach Kevin Foote.

“I think the whole squad showed what it means to play for South Africa. We showed grit and I’m super proud of everyone.”

“Our preparation was excellent, and the leadership from Riley [Norton] and the senior guys was really good..

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“From how we felt a year ago on this same night, there was a lot of motivation going into this game.

“Our DNA is physicality, but it’s also skill,” he said. “You see the physicality in breakdown and how we want to play. This team plays with pride.”

New Zealand’s bid for three straight U20 Rugby Championships is over with South Africa claiming their first in the third year of the tournament.

Their first Rugby Championship title adds to the World U20 Championship won in 2025, when they beat New Zealand 23-15, a reversal of the earlier result in the U20 Rugby Championship.

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The two nations will face off in the third and final round of this year’s U20 Rugby Championship on Saturday local time however it will only be for bragging rights with the title determined.

 

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Comments

17 Comments
D
DP 2 days ago

Time to roll out the B team for NZ, championship easily wrapped up - be good to get the wider squad game time.

T
Two Cents 2 days ago

That was a very poor Australian side. Discipline an issue at this level means it's going to be an issue all the way through and it will be much harder to fix later on as we have already seen.


There's literally zero justification for committing such blatant fouls and screams poor coaching because the players clearly don't trust the system if they're doing such braindead things as collapsing mauls and deliberately knocking the ball down.


The self-inflicted pressure of inaccuracy, poor execution and poor decision making has unfortunately become a hallmark of Australian rugby and is why they continue to disappoint despite having the promise to play much better.


It is primarily in transition where they're proving incapable and that is entirely down to coaching. You need to train under pressure all the time so that when the real pressure comes on during games you have the character to persevere and prevail.


Still, it was an improvement on the absolute shellacking they suffered at the U20 World Cup last year so if there's a silver lining to be found, that would be it.


The young Boks have cooked themselves with this performance having emptied themselves emotionally against the Young Wallabies they will get smoked next week by the Junior ABs.


The double drain of having completely monstered and won the tournament coming up against the ABs desire to redeem themselves will produce a decisive victory for the Kiwis.


And being so beaten down the Aussie lads will probably lose to the Pumas who will be riding high after their historic victory. Not very promising.

J
JW 3 hours ago

What a stich up.

W
Wayneo 2 days ago

Not so fast there mate, Junior ABs almost lost to the same Junior Wallabies last week


Lets also not overlook how bad they were made to look against Los Pumitas come scrum time, the same team that the Junior Boks put away in the first half hardly breaking a sweat


I get that they will want to redeem themselves, however, going by what I have observed so far, the Junior ABs just don’t have the cattle so an even worse fate awaits them against an even more lethal Junior Boks pack


The benefits of SA’s move North are now becoming visibly evident via the performances of the Junior Boks

u
unknown 2 days ago

Rubbish comment - same Aussie side that pushed the kiwis! You don’t know what you’re talking about.

W
WN 2 days ago

Hahaha can’t wait to see how this prediction ages

L
LondonAllBlack 2 days ago

That was very poor from the New Zealand U20 side. Not good enough.

u
unknown 2 days ago

Poor Ben….now the Junior Boks are also winning everything….lets see what he can be negative about this time 🙄😂

J
J Marc 2 days ago

Say him , South Africa U20 lost 12/20 in Châteauroux, France, last november. But I am not sure it will be a great lesson for both sides, because players will maybe not the same next june in World Championship…

V
Venomenal1 2 days ago

With the title of the article I had to read what Smith had to write about this. I always skip his articles, but had to stop by for this one. Well done Juniors, You Make Your Country Proud, the Talent there is Unbelievable!!!

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