England U20 Men defeated by South Africa in Cape Town
England U20 Men were defeated 22-15 by South Africa to finish the World Rugby U20 Championship in fourth place.
Craig Wright and Zach Carr crossed for Mark Mapletoft’s side in the first half but England were unable to capitalise on significant territory and possession as neither side troubled the scores in the second period.
The Baby Boks scored three tries themselves through Hendrik Sieberhagen, Corné Beets and Juann Else as England finished on the losing side for just the second time in the tournament, following a 52-31 defeat to France in the semi-final.
England began the match on top and were first on the scoreboard, taking a 3-0 lead courtesy of a Slevin penalty.
The tournament hosts quickly hit back with two quickfire tries in eight minutes from flanker Sieberhagen and No.8 Beets which, combined with seven points from Jean Smith’s boot, put them 17-3 ahead after the first quarter.
A moment of genius from Cassius Cleaves propelled England back into contention. The winger picked the ball up under pressure in the back field before weaving his way in and out of two tackles and finding hooker Craig, who had the pace to score in the corner from 22 metres out, with Slevin this time unable to add the conversion.
South Africa scored their third try in the 39th minute through hooker Else but England hit back almost immediately, when No.8 Carr found his way over on the cusp of half-time to reduce the deficit to seven points.
England came out on top at the start of the second half but stubborn defensive work from the Baby Boks denied them further inroads and left the game perfectly poised heading into the final quarter.
Chandler Cunningham-South made a stunning break through the middle of the South Africa defence, but was unable to find anyone with his offload, while Alex Wills made a series of breaks down the left wing, but each time South Africa were able to hold firm.
England kept probing, Tristan Woodman bursting through in the final five minutes, but on each occasion were thwarted by an inspired Junior Springboks team who secured third spot on home soil.
ENGLAND U20 MEN
STARTING XV:
15 Sam Harris (Bath Rugby)
14 Cassius Cleaves (Harlequins)
13 Joe Jenkins (Bristol Bears)
12 Rekeiti Ma'asi-White (Sale Sharks)
11 Alex Wills (Sale Sharks)
10 Connor Slevin (Harlequins)
9 Nye Thomas (Sale Sharks)
1 Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks)
2 Craig Wright (Northampton Saints)
3 Afolabi Fasogbon (Gloucester Rugby)
4 Joe Bailey (Exeter Chiefs)
5 Lewis Chessum (C) (Leicester Tigers)
6 Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins)
7 Nathan Michelow (Saracens)
8 Zach Carr (Harlequins)
REPLACEMENTS:
16 Nathan Jibulu (Harlequins)
17 Ethan Clarke (Harlequins)
18 James Halliwell (Bristol Bears)
19 Finn Carnduff (Leicester Tigers)
20 Tristan Woodman (Sale Sharks)
21 Charlie Bracken (Saracens)
22 Louie Johnson (Newcastle)
23 Joseph Woodward (Leicester Tigers)
