England reached their second successive World Rugby U20 Championship semi-final with a late 17-12 win over South Africa in Athlone in the winter. The score was level at 12-12 when an arm wrestling match entered the final play.
The game remained level until the 86th minute after repeated fouls by Junior Boks, including a yellow card for Divan Fuller.
Then substitute James Isaacs came off a lineout maul to grab an unconverted try, which left Mark Mapletoft’s side top of Group C and a place in the semi-finals of next Sunday’s Six Nations Championship against Group B winners Ireland.
A draw would have seen England win the group but they will be delighted to have secured their third win of the competition after a fiercely contested campaign.
The weather was so bad in the Cape Town area that the opening match between Ireland and Australia in Athlone was called off and the third match of the Stellenbosch programme, between New Zealand and Spain, was abandoned at half-time.
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However, the Athlone stadium became playable for the second game, with France beating Wales 29-11 with a bonus point to progress to the semi-finals as the best runners-up in Group 3. They now face New Zealand, who lost 26-27 in Stellenbosch last Thursday.
South Africa took the lead after just seven minutes through Zach Porthen, but England struck back through Finn Carnduff to level the scores in the 27th minute and held the score until half-time.
Joe Bailey put England ahead with a clean sheet try in the 45th minute thanks to a superb effort from his fellow strikers, but South Africa levelled the score at 12-12 six minutes later through Licona Finca.
The soft pitch and wet ball continued to affect the balance between attack and defence, eventually leading to some excellently executed England lineout play in the sixth minute of added time.
