Mercer tries top and tail dogged England display

ZACH Mercer proved captain fantastic once again on Tuesday with his late try – and Max Malins’ conversion – denying South Africa at the death to send England into their fourth consecutive Junior World Cup final.

England led 17-7 midway through the first half after tries from Mercer and Alex Mitchell, but 15 unanswered points from the Baby Boks concluded by a penalty from star man Curwin Bosch looked to have been enough to send the 2012 champions into the final.

However, as against Australia in their final Pool match, England showed tenacity to keep pushing and Mercer clinched it five minutes from time.

“It was a huge battle from start to finish,” said Mercer. “We knew what was coming from the South Africans, they have a massive, physical forward pack and their backline has a great skillset.”

Mercer kicked things off with the opening try of the game two minutes in and, even if his opposite man Juarno Augustus powered over shortly after, England led 14-7 when Alex Mitchell was on the end of another impressive multi-phase attack to score his third try of the tournament.

Malins converted both scores and then sent over a penalty midway through the half.

England were looking comfortable but two minutes before the break they conceded a penalty and Augustus bundled over from the resulting lineout for 17-12.

South Africa had the upper hand in the second half and took the lead for the first time on 56 minutes when Ruben Van Heerden crossed and Bosch converted.

The impressive Sharks fly-half extended South Africa’s lead to five points with a penalty, but, with just minutes remaining, Mercer burst through three defenders to score under the posts and Malins’ conversions snatched a sensational victory.