The Junior Springboks are world champions again! South Africa’s U20 side beat France 16-5 in a tense, bruising Junior World Championship final at the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium in Tbilisi, Georgia on Saturday night — successfully defending the crown they won in Italy last year.
It makes Kevin Foote’s men the first team to win back-to-back Junior World Championship titles since France did it in 2018 and 2019 — and it caps a golden southern-hemisphere winter for South African rugby.
A final won the South African way
After the free-scoring 53-37 semi-final win over England, the final was a different kind of contest: an arm wrestle. France — who edged New Zealand 26-22 with a 76th-minute try in their semi-final — were held to just five points as the Junior Boks’ defence and set-piece squeezed the life out of the contest.
Captain Siphosethu Mnebelele had promised his side would take on France “the SA way — with physicality, tempo and intensity”, and that is exactly how the trophy was retained.
Back-to-back — and a pipeline full of promise
For the second year running, the future of Springbok rugby looks in phenomenal shape. Class of 2025, class of 2026 — both world champions. Names from this squad will be in Rassie Erasmus’s senior plans sooner rather than later, and Bok fans everywhere should enjoy watching this generation grow.
Baie geluk, Junior Boks — julle het die land trots gemaak! 🏆
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