Dazzling Junior Boks sink England with second-half blitz to reach final

A ferocious second-half performance seeing sawuth Africans through after a lukewarm first 40 minutes in Tbilisi on Tuesday evening.

Khuthadzo Rasivhaga scored three tries and Yaqeen Ahmed contributed 23 points to the Junior Boks' cause as they showed what they are capable of on attack in the second half, although it was still not perfect.

Luan Giliomee, who was very good on the night, will also rue a moment of madness when his yellow card for a challenge in the air was upgraded to a 20-minute red card, which could rule him out of the final.

A knock-on at their first maul set the tone for what was a frustrating half for the Junior Boks, with too many mistakes when they could have taken advantage on the field.

Handling errors, wrong options and even a penalty that was kicked dead told the story of a first half that could have been better for the Junior Boks.

England made the most of their opportunities, with Ollie Streeter crashing over in the fourth minute, but the Junior Boks worked themselves back into position.

First Oliver Reid was held up, but moments later Yaqeen Ahmed when over from an attacking lineout and a great surge by Ethan Adams, with his conversion levelling the scores at 7-7.

Hugh Shields, who converted the first try, then landed a penalty goal and scored England's second try - which he also converted - to push them into a 17-7 lead after half an hour, but three minutes later disaster struck for the team in white as flanker Seb Kelly was shown a permanent red card for a headbutt on Luan Giliomee.

A minute later, Rasivhaga scored in the corner from a pin-point cross-kick by Ahmed after the SA U20s worked the phases on the English tryline. To conversion was wide and Shields then added a second penalty goal to give England an eight-point lead at the break.

Harsh words must have been said during the break, because the Junior Boks came out like a team possessed, scoring four tries without reply in the first 13 minutes of the second half.

Rasivhaga scored his second after Luan Giliomee was instrumental on attack before Kebotile Maake struck twice in two minutes, with Ahmed, who also had a hand in tries, converting all three to make it 33-20.

In the 53rd minute, Rasivhaga completed his hat-trick with a brilliant finish in the corner and when Ahmed added the extras, the Junior Boks' score was double that of England at 40-20.

England pulled one back, but Luke Cannon's converted try four minutes later, followed by a penalty goal by Ahmed, edged the Junior Boks further ahead.

Giliomee received a yellow card - which was upgraded to a 20-minute red - after a clumsy challenge in the air, after which England scored their fourth try to close the gap to 50-32, but Ahmed made it a 21-point game with his second penalty goal, with 10 minutes to go.

Things got a bit scrappy towards the end, and although Shields scored his second try at the death, the Junior Boks did what they had to and can start preparing to face France.

The final is scheduled for 18h30 on Saturday evening. France progressed after beating New Zealand by 26-22 in the first semi-final.

Scorers:

Junior Springboks 53 (12) - Tries: Yaqeen Ahmed, Khuthadzo Rasivhaga (3), Kebotile Maake (2), Luke Cannon. Conversions: Ahmed (6). Penalty goals: Ahmed (2).

England U20 37 (20) - Tries: Ollie Streeter, Hugh Shields (2), Jonny Weimann, Tate Williams. Conversions: Shields (3). Penalty goals: Shields (2). 

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