Multi-sport talent Riley Norton leads South Africa to glory in World U-20 Rugby Championship after representing Proteas in U-19 Cricket World Cup

The 19-year-old dual-sport talent Riley Norton led the Junior Springboks to the World Rugby Under 20 Championship title on Saturday as South Africa defeated six-time champion New Zealand 23-15 to end a 13-year-drought.

This was South Africa’s second title, with the first one coming back in 2012.

At the helm of the Junior Sprinboks’ campaign was captain Norton, who represented South Africa at the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup last year. Norton played five matches in South Africa’s run to the semifinals, where it lost to India.

In that tournament, Norton scored 50 runs with the bat, while also picking 11 wickets with his right-arm medium pace.

Despite his promising cricket career, Norton recently pivoted to focus more on rugby, a sport where he has excelled. Following in the footsteps of his father, Chris Norton, who played for Maties Rugby from 1991 to 2003, Riley joined Maties Rugby this year while pursuing a B. Com Investment Management degree at Stellenbosch University.

His leadership prowess has been particularly evident in the 2025 World Rugby U20 Championship. As captain of the Junior Springboks, Norton guided his team through dominant performances, securing victories against Australia (73-17), defending champion England (32-22), and Scotland (73-14) in the group stage. His team then triumphed over Argentina 48-24 in the semifinal, before beating the Baby Blacks in the summit clash.

“I’m quite emotional, but I’m just so proud,” Norton was quoted as saying by SA Rugby Magazine.

“… We had to show up physically. That’s our DNA. That’s where we South Africans get our passion and our energy from. The set-phase, the maul, the scrum, the hits – the guys did that for 80 minutes and that’s where we get our DNA from. Of course (Vusi) Moyo with his unbelievable boot always putting us on the front foot and kicking those penalties, it’s just unbelievable.

“The amount of support we received from South Africa, videos from our mates, people sending us messages and just backing us was just unbelievable. I’m so proud to be South African and we couldn’t have done it without our fans back at home cheering us on every step of the way,” he added.

Norton represents a rare breed of dual-sport athletes, drawing comparisons to figures like Namibia’s Rudie van Vuuren, who notably played in both the Cricket and Rugby World Cups.