{"id":256994,"date":"2025-07-11T19:47:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T19:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/256994\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T19:47:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T19:47:09","slug":"future-springbok-haashim-pead-smashes-antoine-duponts-records-planet-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/256994\/","title":{"rendered":"Future Springbok Haashim Pead smashes Antoine Dupont’s records : Planet Rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Baby Boks have come through the 2025 World Rugby U20 Championship group stage completely unscathed this week after beating Scotland, England and Australia for a total of 178 points scored.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Springboks\u2019 youth setup has displayed incredible potential during these recent matches, as they continue the trend of South African dominance in the sport.<\/p>\n

Their senior men\u2019s side won the World Cup for the fourth time in their history when they beat the All Blacks by a point in Paris in 2023, becoming the most successful nation in the game.<\/p>\n

In the age grade sides, however, South Africa<\/a> have not been quite so successful, last winning the competition in 2012 \u2013 13 years ago. They will take huge confidence from beating last year\u2018s champions, England, at the\u00a0Stadio Mario Battaglini in Italy by 25 points.<\/p>\n

Haashim Pead \u2013 Future Springbok<\/p>\n

Their dominance in this year\u2019s competition has been helped, not least, by their talismanic scrum-half,\u00a0Haashim Pead. The 20-year-old has caught the attention of the rugby world thanks to his record-breaking exploits in the group stages.<\/p>\n

The hot prospect has, so far, broken the former World Rugby Player of the Year, Antoine Dupont\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0record for the amount of metres made in just three matches. He also now holds the record for the most try involvements at this stage of the competition.<\/p>\n

Noting the young player\u2019s stats,\u00a0OptaJonny, the official X (formerly Twitter) page for Stats Perform\u2019s rugby coverage, has laid down the incredible records that he has already set in the competition.<\/p>\n

Posting the information online, OptaJonny said:\u00a0\u201cHaashim Pead has gained 232 metres from his 15 carries in the 2025 #WorldRugbyU20s, the most by a scrum-half in the pool stages of the competition since Opta have recorded this data \u2013 the only other #9 to make 200+ was Antoine Dupont in 2016 (227).\u201d<\/p>\n

They then added:\u00a0\u201cHaashim Pead has also been directly involved in eight tries (scored 5, assisted 3), the most of any player in that time, overtaking the previous record of 7, which was jointly held by New Zealand duo Braydon Ennor (2017) and Jason Emery (2012).\u201d<\/p>\n

The Golden Lions back-line prospect is being heavily guarded by his club in these early progression years, but the global explosion of this talent doesn\u2019t appear far off.<\/p>\n

Argentina v England preview: \u2018Hungry and highly motivated\u2019 visitors to clinch series against \u2018desperate\u2019 Los Pumas<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Jaco Williams \u2013 The next Springbok star winger?<\/p>\n

Next up, a score that has gone viral showing\u00a0Pead\u2019s teammate,\u00a0Jaco Williams,\u00a0scoring an almost length-of-the-field try, leading to some pretty exciting comparisons with certain members of the existing Springboks senior squad.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At just 19 years old, the Sharks player was looking deadly against Scotland on Wednesday. In a video shared on X, the young winger was seen tearing through the opposition defence from just inside his own 22-metre line, before chipping the ball on from the halfway line. Using his electric pace, Williams gassed past the trailing Scottish defence to score arguably the greatest try of the tournament so far.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAn 80-yard scorcher\u201d \ud83d\udd25<\/p>\n

Jaco Williams is a menace with ball in hand \ud83e\udd2f#WorldRugbyU20s<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/XFk1lM1LSo<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 World Rugby (@WorldRugby) July 9, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

His career is only just getting underway, and it\u2019s very easy to treat his growth with unchecked hyperbole, but the future really does look bright for this young man. Speaking about initially breaking through to the Sharks team, Williams spoke last year saying: \u201cPlaying in the Currie Cup was a dream, and it came true, and it\u2019s been amazing so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite his achievements, his feet appear to still be very firmly stuck to the ground, with the\u00a0Glenwood youngster focusing more on team achievements than his own.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a player who really plays for the team and not just for myself,\u201d he said in late 2024. \u201cScoring the try really brings confidence in the team and brings confidence in myself as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

World Rugby U20s World Championship<\/p>\n

South Africa will face Argentina in the semi-finals of the competition, while France will confront New Zealand in an attempt to forge their own spot in the final.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/news\/long-live-the-legend-of-the-assist-king-willie-le-roux-the-unselfish-underappreciated-springboks-warrior<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n