England U20 beaten by South Africa in Rovigo
England U20 slipped to their first defeat of the 2025 World Rugby U20 Championship as South Africa ran out 32-22 winners in Rovigo.
Jonny Weimann, Connor Treacey and Jack Bracken scored England’s tries in the first half, with Josh Bellamy and Ben Coen slotting a conversion apiece. But South Africa responded with scores from Cheswill Jooste, Haashim Pead and Gilermo Mustoe in the first period, before Pead’s second after the break – along with two Moyo penalties – saw the Junior Boks come out on top in a pulsating Group A clash.
The first came courtesy of a blistering counter-attack, which started when Bellamy set Ben Redshaw free. The wing made good ground before passing inside to scrum-half Weimann to finish the job, with Bellamy adding the extras.
It was then the turn of the forwards to show their handling skills, as front-rowers Kepu Tuipulotu and Ralph McEachran combined before the latter gave Treacey a simple finish, Coen this time converting.
South Africa gradually began to gain a foothold in the contest and got themselves on the board on 23 minutes, wing Jooste finding an excellent line and using his pace to streak clear and dot down.
Scrum-half Pead then started and finished a Junior Boks move five minutes later to get them to within two points, with the conversion missed, before England stretched their lead with a piece of opportunism from Bracken.
Redshaw’s kick through was gathered by Jaco Williams but when he elected to try and keep the ball live, his scrambled pass was gathered by Bracken a couple of metres out and he crossed for England’s third score, which went unconverted. The end-to-end action continued as South Africa soon drew level. Williams was again involved, quickly making amends for his error with a fine offload to Mustoe, who expertly held on to it and crossed for a converted try to make it 19-19.
Coen’s penalty ensured England took a lead into half time but Moyo responded in kind after the break to square it up once more. Moyo then landed a long-range penalty from halfway to edge his side in front and South Africa extended their lead when Pead scored a brilliant individual try, breaking from his own 22 before stepping inside Bellamy to go under the posts.
Bracken was forced into touch by Williams as England sought a response while a series of changes brought some fresh energy, Aiden Ainsworth-Cave crunching into Jaco Grobbelaar with a huge tackle which forced a turnover.
England had a numerical advantage for the final 10 minutes after Gino Cupido was sin-binned for head-on-head contact in the tackle and came close to reducing the deficit with two minutes to play, only to be held up over the line. That proved the final attack for Mark Mapletoft’s side, who sit second in Group A and face a decisive final group match against Australia, also on five points, on Wednesday.
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