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Thu 11 Jun 2015 | 11:36
South Africa beat Australia to book Under 20's semi final spot - Day 3 Highlights

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South Africa powered their way into the semi-finals of the Under 20s World Championship with a bonus point victory over Australia in Calvisano. They will face England in the semi finals, while New Zealand will take on France.

Leading the charge for the 2014 runners up was fly-half Brandon Thomson, whose two penalties, four conversions and try capped off a hugely impressive 46-13 win. They face England in the last four as they seek revenge for an agonising 21-20 defeat 12 months ago.

All Match Highlights on page two

It was Thomson's genius that gave the 'Baby Boks' a crucial bonus point, which relegated Australia to a 5th/6th playoff semi final against Scotland, who earlier beat Argentina 29-6.

The try was set up by a superb break from winger Khanyo Ngcukana. The ball then reached Thomson who switched back against the oncoming defence. The fly-half showed great pace after to streak clear to score.

Elsewhere, New Zealand withstodd a stern Irish challenge in the opening half hour to secure a comfortable 25-3 victory in Viadana, while Wales brushed aside competition returnees Japan 66-3.

Already impressive in their opening round victory over Wales, France toppled two time defending champions England with a clinical display, winning 30-18. A Damien Penaud double ensured a semi final place against New Zealand while England scored just enough points to allow them to sneak into the last four, at the expense of Australia.

Ranked 11th out of 12th, hosts Italy had but pride to play for in their final pool match against Samoa. They fought back from 20-12 at the break to lead 24-23 heading into the final 10 minutes, before a bizarre, loose pass from an Italian ruck gave Samoa the simplest of tries and ultimately cost the Azzurini a deserved win.

The top four teams on the overall standings are:
1.    South Africa 15 points (93 point difference)
2.    New Zealand 14 (83)
3.    France 13 (61)
4.    England 10 (-5)

The semi-final draw for 15 June at Calvisano are as follow:
18h30 New Zealand vs France
20h30 South Africa vs England

Match Highlights on page two, with Brandon Thomson's great try below

France 30-18 England

Argentina 6-29 Scotland

New Zealand 25-3 Ireland

South Africa 46-13 Australia

Wales 66-3 Japan

Italy 24-30 Samoa

Posted By: Stephen Brunsdon

7 Comments

  • i_bleed_green_and_gold
    6:49 PM 15/06/2015

    Exactly, very handsome fella... there has to be a top 10 list of "most unfortunate looking players out there?" - Mike Tindall is one that comes to mind as one who ran into one too many walls in his day.

  • larry
    4:15 PM 13/06/2015

    At least the video refs are actually on site, not like American Major League baseball where the reviewing umpires are sitting in some office in New York City.

  • larry
    4:15 PM 13/06/2015

    At least the video refs are actually on site, not like American Major League baseball where the reviewing umpires are sitting in some office in New York City.

  • larry
    4:13 PM 13/06/2015

    I can't agree more with I_Bleed_green_and_gold's comment. Of course there will be the amateur game for the majority of rugby players in the world. I do lament that the game has turned into so much of a professional circus at the highest first class level. Someone's making plenty of money from it: corporate TV. What rankles me more are the law changes in the recent past to make the game more "interesting" for the casual TV viewer. That would include all laws that have led to virtual guaranteed possession of the ball: lineout lifting, where a player is offside in a ruck, truck and trailer, and those are just a few.

    One positive from this video is the South African jersey. Nice to see a real collar on a shirt. And I never knew anyone who got tackled by the collar, perhaps grabbed around the neck (scragged), but not actually taken down by someone hanging on to a player's collar. And how about tucking in those shirts? Seems shirt tails are something to hang onto to tackle a player!

  • jimmy23
    4:39 PM 12/06/2015

    Safe to say that England were lucky to make it through. Were made to look pretty average by France, can't say I hold much hope of us retaining the title.

  • i_bleed_green_and_gold
    3:34 PM 12/06/2015

    Those kids do not look like U20... what do they feed them? It is like a breeding program to make monsters. The game is getting very professional at a very early age. Not sure how that will work out for the youngsters just wanting to play at the school boy level. I liked the good ol days when rugby players were doctors or mechanics by day and players on the weekend. these kids will be brought up on the promise of riches by the time they are 30 but the reality is that many will probably have 1-3 years of injuries, not to mention the long term effects... I mean they may end up looking like a martin Johnson :)

  • reality
    11:27 AM 12/06/2015

    Seeing tries awarded without 5 minutes of video consultation is actually great - I had forgotten what it was like.

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