Wales’ campaign in the World Rugby U20 Championship finished in disappointing fashion with a 47-31 defeat to hosts South Africa in the 7th place final at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town.
The Junior Springboks were determined to finish the championship on a winning note after suffering two defeats to Argentina.
Their heavy artillery up front fired plenty of shots as South Africa enjoyed a 19-5 lead at the break and despite Wales claiming four second half tries, it wasn’t enough as Richard Whiffin’s side finished the campaign in eighth position.
The Junior Boks utilised their power up front to good effect with Wales forced to get through a huge amount of defensive work. It was no surprise to see Lucas de la Rua (23), Jonny Green and Morgan Morse (18) lead the tackle count as the men in red face a green and gold tidal wave of attacks throughout.
Home town hero Zachary Porthen, No 8 Sibabalwe Mahashe and second row JF van Heerden scored tries in the first half as the Boks pack hammered away at the tireless Welsh defence.
Wales winger Walker Price stopped the one-way traffic when finishing off expertly in the corner to give his side some hope at the break but Mahashe dashed any hopes of a comeback when he stormed over for a second try five minutes after the restart.
Aidan Boshoff kept Wales in the game when he scored from a well-executed try from a scrum but South Africa continued to attack with Bathobele Hlekani finishing off well before Steffan Emanuel pickpocketed the Boks and sprinted 60m to score against the run of play.
The Boks scored two more tries but Wales refused to cave in with Price scoring a second before Owen Conquer powered over on the final whistle to give the score-line some respectability.
“We’re a bit frustrated and disappointed with the result,” admitted Whiffin, “it was a tale of our season really, conceding a lot of penalties and gave up too many soft tries. It gave us a bit too much to do and we were ultimately hanging on so a bit frustrated.”
“This team is outstanding around their heart and spirit and want to defend, we have just got to be more accurate. We can’t fault the boys’ efforts but it was a bit frustrating to see how easy we were to score against today.
“We are a threat with the ball, but we simply have to be better without it.”
