World Rugby U20 In the other top-four playoff, England, which placed second in Pool B, will face Pool A winners France, while South Africa, which won Pool C, will play Pool B winners Ireland in the semi-final on Sunday. England, France, South Africa, and Ireland advance to the semifinals of the World Rugby U20 Championship.
The Junior Springboks battled to a 24-16 victory (halftime 7-16) over Argentina on a chilly and windy night at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town, securing their spot in the World Rugby U20 Championship semifinals.
The Junior Boks performed as required, exerting enough pressure to wear down the Argentineans to prevent them from scoring after the interval. If it weren’t for a few near calls in the second half, the difference may have been even greater.
Even though they occasionally made it difficult for themselves, the South Africans won’t moan about the result because all they needed was the win.
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Emotional victory for Ireland
Ireland won Pool B of the World Rugby U20 Championship after displaying amazing grit to defeat Fiji following a terrible few days.
The Irish managed to perform despite learning that Greig Oliver, the father of U20 player Jack, had passed away before the game on Thursday.
The weekend deaths of Andrew O’Donnell and Max Wall, two people the players knew, on the Greek island of Ios had also had an impact on Ireland.
By defeating South Africa, who won Pool C, 47–27, they advance to the semifinals, which will take place on Sunday in South Africa.
Australia fight back against England
Australia prevented England from earning the bonus point victory they required to win Pool B, but the latter did advance to the semifinals based on points differential.
Australia needed a maximum to have a chance of moving on, and two minutes before the end, they were still chasing it when replacement center Harry McLaughlin-Phillips powered over for their third try. However, fly-half Jack Bowen was unable to add the conversion, and subsequent assaults from the Junior Wallabies in the dying seconds were ineffective.
After drawing 34-34 with Ireland on day one, England lost their composure after hooker Nathan Jibulu powered over for their third try and had to settle for a draw for the second time in the tournament.
Missing out on World Rugby U20 semi-finals is New Zealand
To have any chance of making it to the semifinals, New Zealand needed to defeat Japan by a score of 62-19 and by a margin of 67 points, but they were only able to win by 62-19.
New Zealand led 38-12 at halftime thanks to scores from Isaac Hutchinson, Sam Hainsworth-Fa’aofo, Macca Springer (2), Malachi Wrampling, and Taha Kemara.
In the second session, Kemara, Springer, Cooper Flanders, and Will Stodart all scored goals, but the Baby Blacks were unable to advance to the semi-finals.
Ryohei Imano, Takashi Omoto, and Kouta Nagashima scored the tries for Japan in the setback, which saw them finish the group stages at the bottom of Pool A following three defeats.