Junior Boks left reeling after Australia stage fightback to win

Australia produced a stunning second-half fightback to beat a shell-shocked Junior Bok team 29-24 in a thrilling U20 Rugby Championship clash in Gqeberha on Tuesday.

When the Boks moved into a commanding 17-0 shortly after halftime, they appeared to be in the driving seat against the Australians at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

The resolute Australians, however, had other ideas and moved through the gears, scoring four second-half tries to win their first game at the tournament after a draw against New Zealand in the opening round.

Australian fullback Sid Harvey put the game out of SA’s reach when he kicked a penalty in the 75th minute.

But the Boks refused to lie down and burly loose forward Batho Hlekani gave his team a glimmer of hope with a late try in the 78th minute.

However, it was too little, too late, and the Australians hung on to clinch a nail-biting win over their old rivals.

During Australia’s sensational revival, Eamon Doyle, Edwin Langi, Lapina Ata and Xavier Rubens all went over for tries to leave the Boks reeling.

Next up for the Boks is a showdown on Sunday against arch-rivals New Zealand, who trounced Argentina in the early game of Tuesday’s double header.

The Boks came flying out of the starting blocks in the first half and were rewarded for their dominance when loose forward Xola Nyali powered his way over the Australian line.

Flyhalf Vusi Moyo slotted the conversion to put the Boks ahead 7-0 after two minutes, thanks to an energetic start which left Australia on the back foot.

After the frenetic early action, the game lost momentum with both teams struggling with their accuracy and handling.

The game burst back into life in the 28th minute when Bok speedster Siya Ndlozi pounced on an Australian error to score a breakaway try against the run of play.

Australia were under pressure in the 34th minute when they were reduced to 14 men after Argentinian referee Thomas Bartazza yellow-carded prop Trevor King for repeated scrum infringements.

The Junior Boks threatened to score a third try just before halftime, but a promising attack ended after a handling error close to the Australian try line.

Shortly afterwards, a bustling Nyali thought he had a second try, but it was disallowed because of a line-out obstruction.

Two minutes after halftime, the Boks extended their lead to 17-0 when Moyo kicked a penalty to give his team extra breathing space.

Australia were gaining momentum and scored a try in the 46th minute when lock Doyle burst through the Bok defence after a line-out maul.

Scorers:

SA 24: Tries: Xola Nyali, Siya Ndlozi, Batho Hlekani. Conversions: Vusi Moyo (2), Kyle Smith. Penalty: Moyo

Australia 29: Tries: Eamon Doyle, Edwin Langi, Lapina Ata, Xavier Rubens. Conversions: Sid Harvey (3). Penalty: Harvey.

• In the first game of the day, New Zealand crushed Argentina 75-21 after they were held to a dramatic draw by Australia in their opening game last week.

Thanks to a dominant all-round display, the New Zealanders outscored their opponents by 11 tries to three in a lopsided encounter.

The writing was on the wall for the South Americans at halftime after the New Zealanders stormed into a commanding 47-7 lead.

It was one-way traffic with New Zealand running in seven tries in the opening 40 minutes to lay down a marker.

To their credit, Argentina never waved the white flag and scored the first try of the second half when wing Juan Carreras crossed for his team’s third five-pointer.

After their early dominance, New Zealand struggled to play with the same fluency they had shown in the first half, and a few unforced handling errors crept into their game.

It took New Zealand 23 minutes before they were to add to their points tally in the second period as Argentina tried to claw their way back into the contest.

First, Taminao Ahloo went over after 63 minutes and two minutes later, David Lewai added to Argentina’s misery to put New Zealand ahead 61-21.

Scorers:

New Zealand 75: Tries: Maloni Kunawave (2), Mosese Basson (2), Josh Tengblad, Caleb Woodley, Eli Oudenryn, Taminao Ahloo, David Lewai (2), Taniela Maisiri. Conversions: Will Cole (8), Rico Simpson (2).

Argentina 21: Tries: Martiniano Arrieta, Nicolas Cambiasso, Juan Carreras. Conversions: Arrieta (3).