After a three-year wait, the World Rugby U20 Championship finally made a return to the rugby calendar on Saturday with 405 points scored across six enthralling matches on the Western Cape of South Africa.
Argentina and Italy kicked off proceedings at Paarl Gymnasium under a light blue sky with Los Pumitas making the most of an early red card to Italy's Destiny Aminu to win 43-15.
The second match of the day at the venue couldn't have been any closer as England and Ireland were tied at 34-34 in what is only the second drawn pool match in U20 Championship history.
Only a point would separate the sides in the third and final match of the day in Paarl, a strong second-half performance seeing New Zealand recover from 19-5 down at half-time against Wales and survive a late fightback to win 27-26 and claim their 50th victory in U20 Championship history.
France got the action underway at Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch, the two-time defending champions proving too strong for a resilient Japan with an emphatic 75-12 victory.
Australia, the side beaten in the 2019 final by France, had a much trickier encounter against Fiji in a match which kept fans on the edge of their seats with the Junior Wallabies coming from behind late on to triumph 46-37.
That left it to hosts South Africa, on the 28th anniversary of the Springboks' Rugby World Cup 1995 success on home soil, to bring the curtain down on an entertaining day of rugby with a hard-fought 33-23 defeat of Georgia in Pool C.
TOUGH OPENER FOR BABY BOKS
South Africa may have enjoyed home comforts, playing in familiar surroundings at the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch, but they were made to work for victory in their opening match.
Georgia, fresh from beating England in a warm-up match, gave the Junior Springboks a stern test with two flashes of individual brilliance in the first half ultimately proving decisive in an abrasive contest.
South Africa centre and vice-captain Katlego Letebele turned defence into attack when Georgia turned over possession near halfway and sliced through the Junior Lelos defence with a sublime chip-and-collect.
Then right wing Jurenzo Julius supplied an acrobatic finish to a superbly-worked attack after full-back Hakeem Kunene had drawn the defence and delivered a perfectly-timed pass.
A second try for South Africa, by Jurenzo Julius, and converted by Jean Smith extended the lead to 17-7 pic.twitter.com/EfDVPONvCC
— Junior Springboks (@JuniorBoks) June 24, 2023
But it was hard work for the most part for South Africa against a big Georgia pack who caused them problems in the scrums and they were unable to secure a try bonus point which could prove costly in the race for a place in the semifinals.
PERFECT OFF THE TEE
South Africa also required some accurate place-kicking from fly-half and Mastercard Player of the Match Jean Smith who had a 100 per cent record off the tee with three conversions and four penalties.
Georgia were tenacious throughout and gave South Africa plenty to think about with captain and blindside flanker Lasha Tsikhistavi crossing for a close-range try after 14 minutes, which fly-half Petre Khutsishvili improved.
Khutsishvili struck with a penalty early in the second half and Georgia’s confidence grew as they successfully disrupted South Africa’s scrum.
A series of penalties allowed Georgia to build the pressure which told when centre Tornike Kakhoidze opened up the home defence to set up winger Luka Tsirekidze.
Khutsishvili was off target with the conversion but he made no mistake with a penalty five minutes later when South Africa openside flanker Ghudian van Reenen was yellow carded for cumulative team offences.
That reduced South Africa’s lead to two points but Georgia then conceded two penalties at the other end which Smith kicked and turned over possession close to their line that allowed centre Ethan Hooker to pick up and score.
Georgia had the last word when replacement hooker Nika Babunashvili went over from a lineout but it was too late to deny South Africa.
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