'The lads don't understand the magnitude of doing things like that'

Mark Mapletoft strolled down the tunnel in Athlone late on Tuesday night quaffing a can of Coke when something much stronger would have been appropriate. He had just witnessed his team go to the well, grinding out a dogged 17-12 win over South Africa at the World Rugby U20 Championship that confirmed them as Pool C winners and securing a semi-final next Sunday versus Six Nations rivals Ireland.

“It was good,” he purred, giving his hot take on a performance where the rose was worn with pride by his gutsy squad. “To come over here in a ridiculously tough pool, beat South Africa in their own backyard, I don’t think the lads understand the magnitude of doing things like that. When you have been around and you are old like us, you have to cherish those moments. Really pleased for them.”

Less so the difficult conditions that the match took place in at a ground where just two of the scheduled three matches were played as the 2pm Ireland-Australia opener was cancelled before the action got underway with France-Wales at 4:30pm followed by South Africa-England at 7pm.

What the All Blacks learnt about England in the series opener | Steinlager Series

What the All Blacks learnt about England in the series opener | Steinlager Series

“It’s not good enough, not good enough,” candidly said the coach who has allowed fans to get a behind-the-scenes look at his U20s set-up in the RugbyPass TV documentary series, Embedded. “For this standard, it’s a showpiece event, for both teams, and you have got one match not taking place – where’s the water gone?

“I just think for me, I’m a very honest and fair person, I watch an awful lot of sport across the world in a number of different areas and for me that’s… you’ve got one game being pulled at half-time (New Zealand-Spain in Stellenbosch) and you have got one game not going on. Nah, I think it’s poor.”

What it means is a semi-final where they will face an Ireland team that won’t have played in 10 days where England have a five-day turnaround from their pool-clinching win over South Africa. “Look, we have got to rest up, short turnaround, big recovery, probably limited training over the next few days, particularly if the training pitches are going to be as heavy as this, and hopefully get ourselves into the DHL Stadium in some sort of decent position.

“In those conditions against a fired-up host nation, to pick out individual people wouldn’t be fair,” he added, reflecting on the mud-fest versus the Junior Boks. “It was just a terrific team effort. Look, we probably have a few things we need to pick up and get better at but it is hard to be too critical.

“We have got a great squad, some good players. They work hard for each other, they really enjoy each other’s company and you then see the no-talent required pieces – they are willing to work hard with the guy next to them, their other teammates, people who come off the bench are making impacts as well. Yeah, I just couldn’t be prouder of them. To come through a tough pool like that with 14 points is a huge credit to them.

“What we demonstrated on a decent surface is we can play but we can also dog it out when it is not so good and, as Argentina went on to prove, that (40-21 round one win after being 0-14 down) was a great result. To put 40 points on a team who have gone on to get 10 points themselves, to fall behind in that game showed huge amounts of resilience.

“One thing we have challenged the lads on, and they have proven time and time again, is they have been able to find a way and it is a sign of a good side, and if you can find a way you will always keep yourself in the hunt for things.”

England appeared to pick up a few injuries against South Africa but Mapletoft wasn’t sure to what extent. “I don’t know, to be honest. Again, the pitch is so heavy you have people coming off with cramp. You have five days to turn it around and go again. We’ll see.

“Ireland are a good side. We had a great contest, didn’t we, down in Bath against them (32-all in the Six Nations in March). It’s an opportunity for someone to edge the series.”

• Click here to sign up to RugbyPass TV for free live coverage of matches from the 2024 World Rugby U20 Championship in countries that don’t have an exclusive local host broadcaster deal