Now in its final round of round-robin action, the World Rugby U20 Trophy has seen some scintillating action over the past ten days.
Building on the uber-successful World Rugby U20 Championship, the U20 Trophy has seen several emerging nations showcase their talent.
Two sides who have played some exceptional rugby without quite getting the results their play deserves were Zimbabwe and the USA.
Both sides entered the final round, having both lost to Uruguay and Scotland and, as such, were looking to avoid the wooden spoon in Pool A.
With just ten minutes to play in what had been a helter-skelter clash, the USA looked all but secure of victory.
This was, of course, until Zimbabwe decided to throw caution to the wind. Receiving the ball from a midfield scrum, Zimbabwe through some Sonny-Bill Williams-style offloads to create space out wide.
Scoring two quick-fire tries, the Zimbabweans flipped the game on its head as they came back from a 37 – 26 deficit with ten minutes to play.
Looks like @ZimRugbyUnion centre Dion Khumalo was harnessing his inner @SonnyBWilliams with a slick offload to set up the Junior Sables first of two quick-fire tries to secure a remarkable comeback against the USA U20 at the World Rugby U20 Trophy.#WorldRugbyU20s pic.twitter.com/O0bdPOHuC9
— Philip Bendon (@PBendon) July 25, 2023
Adding to this comeback was the fact that the Southern African team were a man down due to a yellow card to substitute Allan Mawunga.
Both scores were sublime and showed why the Junior Sables were so highly touted coming into this year’s competition.
Absolutely world-class offloading from the @ZimRugbyUnion U20 side to complete a remarkable comeback against the USA U20 in the World Rugby U20 Trophy competition.#Rugby #WorldRugbyU20s pic.twitter.com/1PUclan7q3
— Philip Bendon (@PBendon) July 25, 2023
Zimbabwe U20s fans celebrating their 38-37 victory over the USA 20s#WorldRugbyU20s #KeepRugbyClean pic.twitter.com/4c4SblWwvg
— Kenya Rugby (@OfficialKRU) July 25, 2023
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