Baby Blacks surrender U20 Rugby Championship title after dramatic draw with South Africa

Sunday, 10 May 2026

At Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Gqeberha: South Africa U20 29 (Akahluwa Boqwana tries 10min, 36min, Rambo Kubheka try 29min, Samuel Badenhorst try 42min; Yaqeen Ahmed 3 con, pen) New Zealand U20 29 (Dane Johnston try 7min, Ollie Guerin try 15min, Caleb Woodley try 21min, Finn McLeod try 48min, penalty try 77min). HT: 22-15.

Red card: Siale Pahulu (New Zealand U20) 67min

Yellow card: Jack Benade (South Africa U20) 77min

New Zealand have surrendered their Under-20 Rugby Championship title to South Africa in a dramatic 29-29 draw with the Junior Springboks hosts in their final-round clash in Gqeberha on Sunday (NZ time).

Having initially been reported that South Africa had won the title with a round to spare following last Monday’s (NZT) second-round matches, a subsequent clarification of the bonus-point rule (earned for scoring four tries as opposed to three more than the opposition) meant the Baby Blacks were in fact still in contention, five points behind the Boks on the standings.

With Australia playing a helping hand by taking Argentina out of a potential tiebreak situation with a 32-20 win in their final game, the Kiwis then knew their task to retain their crown was to beat the South Africans by at least eight points, while scoring at least four tries and stopping the Boks from scoring four of their own.

As it turned out, the two sides, in what was a repeat of last year’s World Rugby U20 Championship final in Italy (won 23-15 by South Africa), couldn’t be separated, after a valiant second-half comeback by the New Zealanders, in front of the crowd of 18,138 at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

When the hosts scored just after halftime, to go up 27-15, that fourth try secured them the silverware, in a competition which New Zealand had taken out the two previous editions of, at the same venue last year and Australia in 2024.

With the result sealed, both teams were unshackled for the remainder, and with flanker Finn McLeod powering over soon later, the Baby Blacks attacked from all angles, while winger Ollie Guerin then also dotted down on the hour mark, latching onto a kick from Haki Wiseman, but the TMO could not verify the grounding.

The TMO then had an even bigger role to play soon after, with Australian referee Ella Goldsmith told to look at high contact from Siale Pahulu, and the centre was duly given a straight red card in the 67th minute, with Goldsmith deeming there was no mitigation in his upright head-on-head hit.

But despite the numerical advantage, South Africa couldn’t capitalise, and it was then the Baby Blacks who had a huge call go their way, with Boks winger Jack Benade yellow-carded in the 77th minute for slapping a ball down, and with him being the last defender on an overlap, a penalty try was also awarded to bring the scores level.

The drama was not done with, with the Baby Blacks awarded a ruck penalty with two minutes to play, but Mika Muliaina’s shot from 43 metres out was sent well wide of the posts.

A chip kick from Guerin then went out on the full and gave South Africa the chance to attack near halfway, though Vusi Moyo then opted to simply hoof the ball into the stands to end the contest.

On the back of their first two results, where they needed a final-quarter flurry to beat a 13-man Australia 34-29, then six days later lost 25-17 to Argentina, the Baby Blacks are sure to take confidence from a much-improved showing, ahead of the Junior World Championship in Georgia in seven weeks’ time.

Under-20 Rugby Championship final standings

South Africa 13, New Zealand 8, Australia 7, Argentina 7