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https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/news\/junior-boks-crowned-world-champions-every-result-from-the-final-day\/ <\/p>\nmens<\/p>\n
world-rugby-u20-championship<\/p>\n
The South African team hold the winner’s trophy aloft at the end of the Final of the U20 World Championship between New Zealand and South Africa at Stadio Mario Battaglini on July 19, 2025 in Rovigo, Italy. (Photo by Timothy Rogers\/Getty Images) https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/news\/junior-boks-crowned-world-champions-every-result-from-the-final-day\/ <\/p>\n
South Africa U20 have won the World Rugby U20 Championship, beating New Zealand<\/a> 23-15 in Rovigo on Saturday. <\/p>\n The victory sees the Junior Springboks take home their first U20 crown since 2012 following a campaign where they looked the strongest side throughout. <\/p>\n The final was a tight contest, however, with South Africa<\/a> starting the game strongly but only holding a 13-5 lead at half time despite New Zealand losing loosehead Sika Pole<\/a> to a red card after 20 minutes. <\/p>\n But, much like the Springboks, South Africa\u2019s pack came to the fore in the final quarter, allowing them to control the match and seal the victory, with full-back Gilermo Mentoe<\/a> chasing a kick from star Haashim Pead off the back of another strong scrum to secure the win. <\/p>\n New Zealand wing Maloni Kunawave<\/a> did score a try soon after reduce South Africa\u2019s lead, but it was too little too late. <\/p>\n Earlier in the day, Ireland secured 11th place with an epic 38-37 victory over Spain<\/a> in Calvisano, with hooker Henry Walker<\/a> scoring his second try of the match in the dying seconds to snatch victory. <\/p>\n At the same time in Rovigo, hosts Italy<\/a> were securing seventh place with a 31-23 win over Italy thanks to a double from No.8 Nelson Casartelli. <\/p>\n Later in the day, 2024 champions England<\/a> ended their title defence with 68-40 loss to Australia<\/a> in the fifth-place play-off. Mark Mapletoft\u2019s side secured a narrow 36-33 win in the pool stages, but there was no such luck in Rovigo, with doubles to flanker Aden Ekanayake<\/a>, centre Malakye Enasio<\/a> and full-back Sidney Harvey helping Australia exact revenge. <\/p>\n Argentina were also inflicting revenge on France<\/a> in the third-place play-off in Calvisano. The Pumas<\/a> bounced back from a 52-26 pool stage defeat to France to edge a 38-35 victory to earn a bronze medal, with hooker Nicol\u00e1s Cambiasso coming away with two tries. <\/p>\n While New Zealand and South Africa were battling for the title in Rovigo, Georgia and Scotland<\/a> were competing for ninth place in Calvisano, which Georgia<\/a> comfortably secured 22-7, with No.8 Mikheili Shioshvili crossing twice. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"mens world-rugby-u20-championship The South African team hold the winner’s trophy aloft at the end of the Final of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-276022","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114882647472458430","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Team](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1752969971_322_10008600.png.webp\")
Match Summary ![\"Team](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1752969972_907_10008700.png.webp\")
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