A massively dissatisfied Bafana Nhleko recommended the Junior Springboks for exhibiting combat of their pool defeat to England, however mentioned an early exit from the U20 Championship shouldn’t outline the expertise within the squad.
The Junior Springboks suffered a late 17-10 loss to England in moist and muddy circumstances of their remaining pool match at Athlone on Tuesday evening.
Regardless of a courageous combat in tough circumstances, South Africa conceded a maul attempt after the fulltime hooter and didn’t progress to the playoffs for the primary time since 2011, once they completed in fifth place in Italy.
Whereas two successive defeats have dampened the marketing campaign on residence soil, Nhleko mentioned there’ll nonetheless be loads of profitable careers to return out of the Junior Bok group.
“We speak concerning the combat, the resilience that South Africans have gotten, standing up and being counted when the chips are down. I assumed immediately was loads of that,” Nhleko mentioned.
“There are good gamers on this group. The large factor I mentioned to them is that I hope these final two video games towards Argentina and England don’t outline them going ahead. They have to by no means see it that method.
“It’s fairly arduous sitting right here as a result of the match has gone away from us and that’s essentially the most tough factor for me. However for them as a bunch, they’re nonetheless on their journeys, additionally as people.
“I consider the work that we’ve put in, though not exhibiting on the sphere, goes to face them properly. There are gamers on this group that may go on to characterize their nation.”
Nhleko mentioned that whereas he was sad with the outcome, he was nonetheless pleased with the dedication his aspect confirmed to bounce again from a second-round defeat to Argentina in Stellenbosch.
“Disappointing is an understatement. It’s uncooked, very uncooked for the time being, the ache that we’re all feeling,” Nhleko mentioned.
“The most important factor is that we obtained an excellent response from the boys when it comes to angle, depth and actually being up for the combat. We did defend properly, however the crux is that we would have liked to attain extra. That didn’t materialise however you noticed the circumstances and so they sort of recreation it was, the place the tries have been coming from.
“I’m massively pleased with the trouble. We got here into this recreation with our backs towards the wall and it’s in all probability the longest 4 days we’ve had as a bunch.”
The Junior Springboks can have a re-match towards Argentina within the fifth-place semi-final at Cape City Stadium on Sunday afternoon (2pm).
Picture: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Photographs
