The Junior Springboks crushed Scotland in Calvisano on Wednesday to book a spot in the World Rugby U20 Championship semi-finals.
The 73-14, 11-try win saw South Africa finish top of Pool A, with a full haul of 15 log points. England and Australia, set to meet later in the day, had five each.
The semi-finals will take place in Viadana on Monday, with the final in Rovigo next Saturday.
After big wins against Australia (73-17) and defending champions England (32-22), coach Kevin Foote made 11 changes to the Junior Boks starting XV for their final pool match at Stadio San Michele.
And the new-look team made the perfect start when winger Jaco Williams collected a Scotland kick inside his 22 and scored at the other end.
“An 80-yard scorcher” 🔥
Jaco Williams is a menace with ball in hand 🤯#WorldRugbyU20s pic.twitter.com/XFk1lM1LSo
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) July 9, 2025
Captain Thando Biyela then went over from a lineout maul, before centre Dominic Malgas dotted down and Williams grabbed his second to secure the bonus point after just 16 minutes.
Prop Oliver Reid added his name to the scoresheet and while Scotland finally got on the board through hooker Seb Stephen, tries to centre Gino Cupido and prop Jean Erasmus gave the Junior Boks a 45-7 half-time lead.
South Africa came out firing after the break but were kept out by committed Scottish defence on several occasions when appearing certain to score.
But the Junior Boks did bring up 50 points in the 60th minute through scrumhalf Ceano Everson, and brilliant interplay between forwards and backs then resulted in a try to No 8 Stephanus Linder.
That was followed by Everson’s second and a consolation try for Scotland replacement Oliver Finlayson-Russell.
But the Junior Boks finished with a flourish as star replacement scrumhalf Haashim Pead scored their 11th try in the last play of the game.
