England set for semi-final battle with Junior Springboks
ENGLAND are 80 minutes away from reaching yet another World Rugby U20 Championship final – but flying wing Gabriel Ibitoye has urged his teammates to learn from their mistakes after they nearly missed out on the last four.
The reigning champions may have ended the pool stage unbeaten with three wins in three games, but they needed a last-ditch penalty from Max Malins to beat Australia and Ibitoye is expecting an even tougher test against South Africa.
Failure to retain possession and indiscipline gifted Australia a 16-3 lead after only 20 minutes and Ibitoye knows another disastrous start against the Baby Boks is likely to force them to relinquish their crown.
“We’re really happy to be in the semi-finals but we must not have the same start against South Africa,” he told The Rugby Paper.
“We’ll learn from it and start the game flat out. We’re confident we have another gear in us so hopefully we’ll get it right on Tuesday.
“We spent a lot of time defending in the first half and their points came from our mistakes, especially offsides which gave them shot at goals.
“We knew what we had to do in the second half to get back in the game. Everyone was on the same page and we started looking after the ball better and playing in the right parts of the field.
“South Africa got a really good result against Argentina so I’m sure they’ll be buzzing after such a win but we’re only focussing on ourselves and trying to improve our game.
“Getting the basics right is crucial for us. If we do that we’ll be in a good place and we have the x-factor to go on and score.” Not many players in the squad have more X-factor than the Harlequins flier who sparked England’s comeback with a gravitydefying try in the corner. Five metres out with Wallaby sevens sensation Henry Hutchinson about to tackle him, Ibitoye, left, leapt high to avoid the tackle and managed to stretch out and touch down onehanded just before landing into touch for the try of the tournament so far.
He added: “I remember calling for the ball early but it didn’t come. When it did I didn’t have much room so I thought I had to so something special if I wanted to score.
“I just jumped over the touchline and tried to stay in the air for as long as possible before putting the ball down. I’m glad all those years of watching Super Rugby came to fruition.
“Henry is a great player but I tried not to focus on him. I couldn’t control what he was going to do. I just tried to be at my best and try to outsmart him.
“We had a chat after the game and exchanged jerseys but that was that really. Australia missed out on the semi-finals because they lost so the last thing he needed was an Englishman in his face boasting.”
South Africa booked their place in the last four with a 72-14 demolition of Argentina.
Their blip against France in the opening game where they needed a conversion on the last play from Super Rugby star Curwin Bosch to salvage a draw seems long behind them but head coach Chean Roux is adamant they haven’t achieved anything by making the semi-finals.
“We treated the match against Argentina as a quarter-final and the players responded very well,” he said. “But we have achieved nothing yet.”