Top 10 Junior World Championship record wins: South Africa U20s dominate

As defending champions, South Africa put out a statement of intent that they are not going to give up their Junior World Championship title lightly with a 104-7 opening round win over an out-classed Uruguay in Tbilisi on Saturday.

While harder battles undoubtedly lay ahead – host nation Georgia are their next opponents on Thursday, it was some display from Kevin Foote’s side who recorded the fourth century, and the first for 13 years, since international age-grade rugby’s elite competition began in 2008.

Historically, no team has been able to put points on the opposition quite like the Junior Boks, who, despite only picking up two of the titles on offer (2012 and 2025), are responsible for three of those centuries.

Here’s the Top 10 biggest wins, in descending order, in the Junior Wolrd Championship:

10. Wales 74-3 Samoa – 71 pts (2012)
Coached by Danny Wilson, Wales put Samoa to the sword in Cape Town, on their way to a bronze medal finish. Tom Prydie contributed 29 points, including two tries.

9. South Africa 73-0 Scotland – 73pts (2010)
In their final year under head coach Eric Sauls, the Junior Boks brushed Scotland aside at Club Atletico Estudiantes, Paranà. Double RWC-winning captain Siya Kolisi was on the scoresheet, while Pat Lambie converted eight of the 11 tries, one of which he scored himself.  In the end, the Junior Boks had to settle for a third-place finish.

8. New Zealand 75-0 Uruguay – 75pts (2009)
Zac Guildford’s hat-trick was the highlight as Los Teritos proved no match for the Baby Blacks, who were the dominant force in U20s rugby at the time and went on to claim their second title.

7. Australia 86-0 Canada – 86pts (2009)
New Zealand-born scrum-half Richard Kingi and a man who needs no introduction, Kurtley Beale, grabbed four tries apiece for a Junior Wallabies side that finished fourth overall.

6. South Africa 104-17 Fiji – 87pts (2011)
Captain Arno Botha led with the way with a hat-trick of tries as the Junior Boks claimed fifth place. Botha ended the tournament as joint leading try-scorer, along with England’s Christian Wade, after bagging seven in total.

5. South Africa 108-18 USA – 90pts (2008)
South Africa scored 16 tries in their first-ever Junior World Championship game in Wrexham, North Wales. Ten different players crossed the whitewash, including twin brothers Robert and Josias Ebersohn. The latter finished with 25 points. The first of multiple bronze medals was South Africa’s final prize.

4. New Zealand 92-0 Wales – 92pts (2011)
Sam Cane, Lima Sopoaga and Charles Piutau scored two tries apiece for the eventual champions, while Welsh-born Rhys Llewellyn also went over as the Baby Blacks clocked up 14 tries. Gareth Anscombe kicked 11 conversions against the nation he would later represent at Test level.

2= South Africa 97-0 USA – 97pts (2013)
The reigning champions started their title defence in style by hammering the hapless USA. Wing Seabelo Senatla scored four times to equal the then JWC record for most tries scored by an individual in a single match. However, the Boks ultimately fell short in their attempt to retain possession of the trophy, finishing in third place.

2= South Africa 104-7 Uruguay – 97pts (2026)
Blow-out scorelines had become something of the past until the Junior Boks set about Uruguay at the Avchala Stadium. Risima Khosa and Jordan Steenkamp crossed for three tries apiece as South Africa started their title defence in style.

1. England 109-0 USA – 109pts (2013)
The Junior All-Americans had a rough time of it at the hands of their opponents in France in 2013, with the game against England topping the lot. Showing the class that would make them champions for the first time, England ruthlessly brushed aside the Americans to run in 17 tries. Interestingly, the stars of that game all went on to play Test rugby for other countries, not England. Future Eagle Will Hooley kicked 11 conversions, hat-trick scorer Ross Moriarty would go on to play for Wales, and David Sisi, who bagged a brace, ended up in Italy’s pack.