South Africa beat Argentina 16-41 to finish third in World Rugby U20 Championship

Argentina U20 16 - 41 South Africa U20

South Africa came up with a five-try performance to beat Argentina 16-41 to seal the third place in the World Rugby U20 Championship 2019.

South Africa, who lost the semi-final against the eventual champions France earlier looked positive from the outset with Sanele Nohamba scoring a converted try in the second minute.

The response from Argentina came in the 19th minute when Joaquin De La Vega Mendia kicked a penalty goal but South Africa had the game in control when they had their second try from Thaakir Abrahams with Nohamba kicking a penalty and a conversion on either side to make it 3-17 before the break.

Argentina had a terrific start in the second half with Mendia and Mateo Carreras scoring tries in the first four minutes to make it 13-17 and a penalty goal from replacement Nicolas Roger meant the gap came down to just one point. The final quarter though was sealed by South Africa with further tries from Thaakir Abrahams (62'), JJ van der Mescht (72') and Rikus Pretorius (78') to complete a 25 point victory.

South Africa captain Phendulani Buthelezi said: “We always wanted to be very physical against Argentina and I think at times today we did that. The guys put it together at the end and we finished really well.”

Argentina full-back Ignacio Mendy said: “We are really disappointed, we wanted to get the bronze medal. They were very effective, they scored when they had to. We didn’t do that.”