CAPE TOWN – Junior Boks head coach Bafana Nhleko has praised his side’s second-half performance that saw them stealing the show at Athlone Stadium on Tuesday night.
South Africa U20 defeated a tough Argentina 24-16 in the World Rugby U20 Championship to set up a semi-final showdown against Ireland on Sunday.
The victory saw Nhleko’s charges topping Pool C with nine points ahead of Georgia who also have the same points.
The scrappy first half saw Argentina taking an early lead, 9-0 after flyhalf Valentino Di Capua netting three penalties with the match ending the first stanza 7-16 to the Pumas.
However, things changed with the Boks’ second half as eighth man Corné Beets dotted down two tries to put the home side in a comfortable position.
“It is relative, the first half not going the way we want – the same pattern, some other areas didn’t function well but I thought the way we played during the second half was superb. It’s probably our best performance in that context,” said Nhleko.
“The way we defended well, the group as a whole – I am happy with the results but most importantly that second-half performance showed that we are capable.”
Ireland topped Pool B after beating Fiji 47-27 earlier on Tuesday.
Nhleko says his side won’t underestimate Ireland.
“We will make sure that we are focusing on ourselves, and see what we can do better – we will obviously go watch Ireland to see what they can offer,” he said.
“A little bit of what I have watched is that they play very good rugby. We are expecting another tough one on Sunday.”
