The Junior Springboks celebrate on Monday.

The Junior Springboks were too strong for Argentina in their opening U20 Rugby Championship fixture in Gqeberha on Sunday, emerging 48-21 winners.

The bonus point victory sees South Africa go top of the table after one round of the competition following New Zealand’s 34-29 victory over Australia earlier in the day.

While the Junior Boks were never in any danger of losing this one, they will not be thrilled with the final quarter of the match.

A hat-trick from right wing Jack Benade and further tries from Ethan Adams (2), Hendre Schoeman, Yaqeen Ahmed and Oliver Reid saw South Africa open up a 48-0 lead after just 55 minutes.

At that point, it looked like they were in for a monstrous score.

But, to their credit, Argentina fought until the bitter end and scored the last three tries of the match to restore credibility to the scoreboard.

Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium is hosting the entire tournament and next weekend South Africa will take on Australia at 16:10 on Sunday.

Scorers:

South Africa 48 (36)

Tries: Ethan Adams (2), Hendré Schoeman, Yaqeen Ahmed, Jack Benade (3), Oliver Reed

Conversions: Ahmed (4)

Argentina 21 (0)

Tries: Federico Torre (2), Tomás Dande

Conversions: Manuel Giannantonio (3)