SA U20 began their Junior World Championship campaign with a 61-5 win over Scotland in North Harbour.
The South Africans scored nine tries, with good improvement in all phases of play as the match progressed.
Scotland took an early lead with a break-away try after 10 minutes, but the Junior Boks stayed calm and soon reaped rewards for their efforts as first Pierre Schoeman and then Sergeal Petersen crossed the tryline.
Both tries came from a call by captain Handré Pollard, to execute attacking set-plays rather than kicking for poles. The captain, who had a superb match, kicked both conversions to have his side up 14-5 at the break.
'We were not clinical enough in that first half,' Pollard said afterwards. 'We made to many handling errors, but once the forwards laid the platform for us, the backs could express themselves in the second half.'
Express they did in the second half as seven more tries followed.
Pollard started the spark with a great chip and chase that resulted in Lloyd Greeff scoring. More probing play by the flyhalf saw Jesse Kriel crossing the line to score the bonus-point try.
Not to be outdone by the backs, who suffered the loss of centre André Esterhuizen due to injury, the forwards rumbled well and kept to their plays and structure. Malcolm Marx scored after good interplay amongst the front row and Aidon Davis also got on the score sheet, but not before Warrick Gelant showed great pace down the blindside for his first Junior World Championship try.
A bunch of replacements did not stop the Junior Boks' momentum and both Kriel and Greeff scored their second five pointers of the evening to cap off a great performance.
South Africa U20 – Tries: Pierre Schoeman, Jessie Kriel (2), Lloyd Greeff (2), Malcolm Marx, Sergeal Petersen, Warrick Gelant, Aidon Davis. Conversions: Handre Pollard (7), Jean-Luc du Plessis.
Scotland – Try: Jamie Farndale.
South Africa U20 – 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Lloyd Greeff, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 André Esterhuizen, 11 Sergeal Petersen, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Zee Mkhabela, 8 Aidon Davis, 7 Cyle Brink, 6 Jacques Vermeulen, 5 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 4 Abongile Nonkontwana, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Subs: 16 Corniel Els, 17 Dayan van der Westhuizen, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 JD Schickerling, 20 Jean-Luc du Preez, 21 JP Smith, 22 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 23 Rohan Janse van Rensburg.
Photo: Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images
