SA Schools scored four tries to beat Wales 40-15 at Outeniqua Park in George on Tuesday.
The hosts led 40-3 after an hour, before the Welsh U18s came back well in the last 10 minutes.
SA Schools, who made a number of changes after their opening win against France, raced into an early lead courtesy of a well-worked set piece play. Prop Lupumlo Mguca found himself in space from a lineout move near the Welsh line and his offload found lock Aston Fortuin, who dotted down under the posts in the second minute.
Flyhalf Thinus de Beer kicked the easy conversion and added a penalty, before good follow-up play by winger Andell Loubser resulted in a converted try for midfielder Heino Bezuidenhout.
De Beer kicked another three first-half penalties, with Wales' only points coming via a fourth-minute penalty by Davy Jones.
The second half started in spectacular fashion when local lock Eduard Zandberg raced 50m down the touchline with the run resulting in a try for scrumhalf Embrose Papier. De Beer converted and at 33-3, it was all over.
But there was more for the locals to get excited about as midfielder JT Jackson rounded off a fine counter-attack started way back in the SA Schools half.
De Beer was then yellow-carded for a late tackle, which gave Wales the breathing space they needed to regroup. They attacked well in this period, applying pressure and enjoyed much better field position. Centre Owen Watkin scored under the sticks, dancing inside the South African defence and flanker Josh Middelton scored after the hooter.
Earlier in the day, England cruised past France 23-6 while Italy U18 beat an SWD Craven Week XV 38-21.
SA Schools – Tries: Aston Fortuin, JT Jackson, Embrose Papier, Heino Bezuidenhout. Conversions: Thinus de Beer (4). Penalties: De Beer (4).
Wales U18 – Tries: Owen Watkin, Josh Middleton. Conversion: Davy Jones. Penalty: Jones.
SA Schools – 15 Barend Smit (Middelburg HTS, Pumas) (c), 14 Andell Loubser (Menlo Park HS, Blue Bulls), 13 Heino Bezuidenhout (Daniel Pienaar HTS, EP), 12 JT Jackson (Oakdale Agric, SWD), 11 Keanu Vers (Grey HS, Eastern Province), 10 Thinus de Beer (Waterkloof HS, Blue Bulls), 9 Embrose Papier (Garsfontein HS, Blue Bulls), 8 Edmund Rheeder (Klerksdorp HS, Leopards), 7 Cobus Wiese (Upington HS, Griquas Country Districts), 6 Arnold Gerber (Menlo Park HS, Blue Bulls), 5 Eduard Zandberg (Outeniqua HS, SWD), 4 Ashton Fortuin (Southdown College, Blue Bulls), 3 Sarel-Marco Smit (Eldoraigne HS, Blue Bulls), 2 Le Roux Baard (Outeniqua HS, SWD), 1 Lupumlo Mguca (Daniel Pienaar THS, Eastern Province).
Subs: 16 Jan-Henning Campher (Garsfontein HS, Blue Bulls), 17 Ngonidzashe Chidoma (Northwood HS, KwaZulu-Natal), 18 Ignatius Prinsloo (Grey College, Free State), 19 Junior Pokomela (Grey HS, Eastern Province), 20 Victor Maruping (Louis Botha THS, Free State), 21 Marko Janse van Vuuren (Transvalia HS, Valke), 22 Curwin Bosch (Grey HS, Eastern Province), 23 Nazo Nkala (Welkom Gimnasium, Griffons).
Wales U18 – 15 Morgan Williams, 14 Shaun Pearce, 13 Owen Watkin, 12 James Whittingham, 11 Elis-Wyn Benham, 10 Dan Jones, 9 Michael Hale, 8 Harrison Keddie, 7 Josh Middleton, 6 Tom Phillips (c), 5 Seb Davies, 4 Matthew Dodd, 3 Kieran Assirratti, 2 Liam Belcher, 1 Keegan Bale.
Subs: 16 Dafydd Hughes, 17 Harrison Walsh, 18 Rupert Lewis, 19 Jon Fox, 20 Shaun Evans, 21 Matthew Aubrey, 22 Joe Gage, 23 Jordan Roberts.
Saturday fixtures (Paul Roos Markötter Stadium, Stellenbosch):
12:00 – Italy vs SARU Regional Academy XV
14:00 – France vs Wales
16:00 – South Africa vs England
Photo: Petri Oeschger/Gallo Images
