England U21s 16 - 34 South Africa U21s

In a competitive and very physical encounter that saw four yellow cards, England were unlucky to go into the break two tries down after dominating much of the first half. 

England worked hard to create several chances in attack, forcing their opponents to concede penalties in contact.  After hitting the posts with the first couple, fly half Toby Flood converted the next, but England immediately went further down when an error on the kick receipt allowed South Africa to come back with a try from the restart.

When centre Earl Rose was sin -binned just before the break England added another penalty to close the gap to 6-10 but again South Africa hit them with a try from the restart and England slipped back 6-17. 

England clawed three points back but with hooker Neil Briggs sin binned just before the half-time whistle and centre Shane Geraghty joining him within minutes of the second period, they were left frustratingly short. Their opponents duly took the opportunity to add a third try, replacement hooker Sangoni Mxoli crossing in the corner to put them 22-9 up.

Despite going a man down when lock Cliff Milton was shown the yellow card, England were again unable to build any momentum as fatigue crept into their game. South African prop Harry Vermaas added the fourth try to secure the bonus point and wing Marius Delport crossed to put the game beyond doubt.

Although England came back with a try by new Saints Academy replacement back-row Hopley which Will Skinner converted, they are left needing a maximum five point win from their final game against France to be with a chance of a place in the semi finals.  Final score England 16 – 34 South Africa.

Head coach Jim Mallinder saind: “Naturally we’re very disappointed. We played well in the first half and probably didn’t deserve to give away two tries. But all credit to the South Africans, they were very good, they played with patience into the wind then used their chances effectively in the second half.”

Hopley said: "I thought we put in fairly good performance but the South Africans played very well.  We needed to take our chances and sometimes our tackling and finishing let us down, it was two missed tackles that led to their first two tries.

“I only played 20 minutes and it was obviously great to get my first international try but it would have been far better if we could have got the win. Now we have to take it forward and look ahead to our game against France which becomes a really important one for us to win and win well.”

Diggin added: “I haven’t played for England since February so it was really good to get back into it.  I took a bang to my knee in the first 10 minutes, which didn’t help, but it eased off in the second half. 

“South Africa were a very strong team but in the first half they lived off our mistakes.  We played all the rugby and it was frustrating to go in at half time points down.

“The first points on the board in the second half were always going to be crucial and I think when they got their third try they seemed to relax and we perhaps tried too hard to chase it."

Results & Fixtures

England 52 – 22 Samoa, Thursday 9 June, Marista RC

England 16  - 34 South Africa, Monday 13 June, Liceo RC

England v France, Friday 17 June, Mendoza RC, kick off 1pm (5pm UK time)

After the three pool stages all teams are ranked 1 to 12, with the top four progressing to the semi finals.  Teams 5 to 8 and 9 to 12 play a further two games each to determine the final rankings.

Semi finals - Tues 21 June

Finals - Saturday 25 June.