Zachary Porthen: 'We clearly at times couldn’t handle the pressure'

It’s nothing unusual for the host country not to win the World Rugby U20 Championship. In its first 12 editions from 2008 to 2019, there were just three home winners, a one-in-four success rate, so South Africa failing to secure 2023 and 2024 gold in Cape Town in editions 13 and 14 can’t be called a disaster.

What was a let-down in recent weeks, though, was the Junior Boks’ failure to reach the semi-finals. Bar 2011, they had always been part of the last four shake-ups, but pool losses to Argentina and England counted them out on this occasion.

Instead, they were left contesting the seventh-place rankings match with Wales on Friday, a campaign-closing fixture that at least ended on a happier note, a 47-31 win at Cape Town Stadium.

For skipper Zachary Porthen, it was a consolation glimpse at what might have been, the tighthead’s tries on 10 and 68 minutes giving the Capetonian something to smile about at the end of a difficult four weeks.

The next step on Porthen’s pathway is the Western Province U21s and a shot at eventually making their Currie Cup mix. He’s hoping that the many lessons learned in his two years with the Junior Boks will stand him in good stead.

“Last year when I came into the set-up I didn’t speak much, I was here to learn,” he explained to RugbyPass on Friday evening before heading into the dressing room and taking off his South Africa U20s jersey for the final time.

“Of course I am here now to learn as well but last year I was kind of more when someone told me to do something I’d do it, just learn things about standards and what the coaches want from us as players.

“This year I took it on me to drive those standards and to almost get the messages that the coaches want towards the players, to transfer those messages from coaches to players which I think is a good part of my character development.

“I’m happy that I got this opportunity to lead the team because I have learned a lot of skills like that. When I’m in my element I reckon I talk a lot, when I’m in a good environment I’ll talk a lot. Otherwise, I’m more, I wouldn’t say on the quiet side but I observe.”

What stood out most to him about international rugby at U20s? “The tempo of the game is something I’ve almost learned to control and understand which is nice so hopefully this can help me in the future in that sense with regards to managing tempo.

“There are a lot of good rugby players in South Africa and we can’t forget that.. the development process is going to get better. Of course, we are not at the same level as certain countries but we are getting there and we just need to have faith in our country because they are good rugby players in this country and our time will come.

“We always had a good plan, it’s just we didn’t execute on the field. If anything, maybe we just needed to put ourselves under pressure more in times like training because we clearly at times couldn’t handle the pressure,” he said, drawing a final line under the Junior Boks class of 2024.

Porthen will move on to his next challenge with a thumbs-up verdict from Bafana Nhleko, his Junior Boks boss. “Zach has grown immensely. When he came to us he was a phenomenal athlete but probably not really focused on set-piece and scrummaging and over time we have spoken a lot about the need for him to grow as a scrummager and be a dominant set-piece player.

“He has shown immense growth and he has the willingness to learn. That is probably the biggest thing for us with regards to him, and the second thing with that is just the responsibility of leading that. He is an introverted guy but over time I have seen how he has grown as a leader, as a leader of men. I have seen how he has grown as a professional.

“He is 19, 20 so it is not always a strong point for some of them, and I have seen how he has taken his game seriously. But above that, small things, how he analyses, how he works hard on his recovery process. I’m excited for how he is going to take the lessons forward for himself and I’d like to see him hopefully lead a different team higher up.”

What made him captain material at a tricky time for the South African age-grade set-up? “One of the things that probably stood out for me was when we spoke to the guys coming back this year, he spoke about the hurt of the team losing in the (2023) semi-final and him coming off the bench.

“But he also spoke about what a team needs to look like, spoke about his experiences from last year, started talking a lot more about just the team – teamness. Those are the type of qualities and he still displays those things.

“You talk to Zach about the week and where we are, the first thing is he has checked in on the guys, ‘this guy is good, this guy is not so good, just touch base with him, the boys are feeling this way’.

"So he really genuinely is about representing the team and understanding the mood of the group and through that, which I saw from last year and the pain he carried from last year and wanting to make things better, that has made him a better leader.

“Zach is a Cape Town boy, loves the Western Cape, loves the Stormers. It gave him energy and even when it was tough, he had family supporting. He has got people in and around him that really believe in him and support him as part of the process. It’s been good to have a local boy captaining the team.”