Assistant coach Lumumba Currie has urged the Junior Springboks to sharpen their execution ahead of Monday's Junior World Championship semi-final against England in Tbilisi (18h30 SA time), despite the defending champions completing an unbeaten pool campaign.
The SA U20s topped Pool A with maximum points after three bonus-point wins — 104-7 over Uruguay, 33-5 over hosts Georgia, and 52-33 over Wales on Tuesday evening. Their tournament-leading points difference of +144 came off 189 points and 29 tries across the three matches.
The Welsh match was effectively a pool decider, with the two sides separated by a single point in the standings heading in. The Junior Boks trailed 14-0 after 11 minutes before recovering to score eight tries, five of them off lineout mauls — a telling indicator of the forward platform Currie regards as the squad's primary strength.
"Our pack has taken us forward throughout the tournament and managed to give us momentum in all three matches," Currie said. "Defensively we've done some good things as well, but there are areas we need to focus because soft moments can hurt you in this competition, where the format is unforgiving."
Despite the 52-point haul against Wales, Currie was candid about opportunities left untaken. "Even though we scored more than 50 points, we felt we left more points on the field because of opportunities we didn't finish. That's the reality of knockout rugby — when you create chances, you need to take them."
England arrive in the semi-finals equally unbeaten, having topped Pool C with wins over Ireland (34-27), USA (68-40), and Argentina (40-38), also collecting 15 log points. Currie expects a step up in intensity. "England are a world-class side. We've had some excellent battles against them over the years and whenever you play England the intensity and execution go to another level."
The other semi-final pits France against New Zealand at 16h00 (SA time) at the Avchala Stadium — meaning the four most decorated nations in JWC history have reached the last four. Both matches are live on SuperSport.