The IRB Junior World Championship 2010 final will be between
defending champions New Zealand and Australia after the
Trans-Tasman rivals overcame South Africa 36-7 and England 28-16 in
their respective semi finals.
AUSTRALIA v ENGLAND
A great solo try from Kimami Sitauti took Australia into
their first ever IRB Junior World Championship final with a 28-16
defeat of England at the Estadio El Coloso del Parque in Rosario on
Thursday.
Australia, the youngest squad in the 2010 tournament in
Argentina, were already leading 23-11 when the Sevens star backed
himself to score, realising his outside backs had overrun the ball
and stepping back inside to ensure the celebrations could begin.
That Matt Toomua missed the conversion did not matter one bit
to the Australians with only a couple of minutes remaining, and
while half-time replacement Jonny May later powered over for an
England try it was nothing more than a consolation score.
Australia had not been as clinical as in their enthralling
Pool C decider with South Africa four days ago and the problems
they had in the lineouts will cause concern, but their free-flowing
style still ended England's hopes of a third succesive final.
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Australia started positively and were unlucky not to score in
the opening minute after a jinking run from Robbie Coleman, the
Sevens star gliding through the defence only to slip as he stepped
off his left foot with the line only metres away.
Matt Toomua did kick Australia into the lead with a fourth
minute penalty, reward for spending the game to that point in the
England 22. However, England hit back five minutes later when Sam
Smith got outside his marker on the overlap to cost over to give
his side a 5-3 lead.
Australia's willingness to throw the ball around was
evident and Coleman was at the heart of a flowing move again in the
16th minute, attracting two defenders to him before offloading to
Aidan Toua to score his fourth try of the tournament.
Tom Homer, the leading point scorer in Junior World
Championship history, cut the deficit to 10-8 with a penalty before
within seconds Toomua uncharacteristically pulled a kick off his
own just inches wide of the upright.
Toomua made amends in the 34th minute when he combined with
Luke Morahan for Australia's second try, the full back cutting
the perfect angle to slice through the England defence, take the
pass from his fellow Wallaby tourist and stretching over the line.
Australia looked to have wasted a chance to increase their
advantage to 20-8 at half time when Nicholas White took a quick
tap, thinking he could get over the line only to be hauled down.
Fortunately for him they were awarded another penalty and Toomua
made no mistake.
England coach Mark Mapletoft rung the changes at the start of
the second half, including bringing on prop Lee Imiolek to
stabilise the scrum, as he sought to change their fortunes and
unsettle the free-running Australians.
Australia, though, still spent much of the opening quarter of
the second half camped in their opponent's half and it needed
some resolute defence from the two-time finalists to keep their
try-line intact for the third time at the Estadio El Coloso del
Parque.
Freddie Burns, somewhat unlucky to have started on the bench,
nearly had a similar impact as a replacement as he did against
Ireland in the pool stages, a neat chip catching Australia with no
sweeper only for Kimami Sitauti to beat him to the touch.
Homer cut the deficit to 20-11 just before the hour mark, but
Toomua's penalty 10 minutes from time left England needing two
converted tries to take the lead. They were unable to cross until
it was too late following Sitauti's individual try.
POST MATCH REACTION
Australia coach David Nucifora: "We're
really pleased to make it through to the final and we've at
least now given ourselves an opportunity to win it and that's
all we came here for. There's a lot of talent in the team, we
probably felt we didn't play as well today as we should've
to be honest and we know if we're going to beat South Africa or
New Zealand in the final we're going to have to play
significantly better than what we felt we played today.
"I think the South African game took a lot out of us and
I didn't feel that we were quite as sharp as we should have
been today. There were scenarios that were presented to us out
there that if we were right on top of our game I felt we could have
taken them and we didn't today. But we did enough, enough to
get past a good England team so we're happy with the
result."
Australia captain Jake Schatz: "I'm very
proud of the boys. It was a good effort to come out here today and
give it to the Poms, just hopefully we can continue to carry it on.
I think the way they seemed to slow our ball down a bit got us
playing a bit of a different game but at the end of the day when we
held onto the ball and created phases, it created
opportunities."
England coach Mark Mapletoft: "I think
previously we've been the better team in the semi final and
today clearly we weren't the better team and the better team
won. We've got to accept that and re-gather and move on and
wait for the third v fourth play-off on Monday.
"They've done really well, it was an incredibly hard
pool and it was a big achievement getting out of the pool with
everybody fit and raring to go, but I think Australia proved today
that they're very, very comfortable with ball in hand and we
couldn't deal with that for the 80 minutes and you lose on the
scoreboard. I thought it was a lot of endeavour, couldn't fault
it, the commitment was super, you know, sticking in there
defensively and then scoring a try at the end but it was a very
fair reflection on the game."
England captain Jacob Rowan: "Australia were
a very good outfit and the tempo they played at was outstanding. We
just couldn't come up with it at the end of the day. We focused
against the final but I still don't think it will be hard to
get up for this game [for third place] now. It's a massive game
with two great sides we could play, we're not sure yet, so
we'll obviously have to get up for that game, look at the game
and how we've gone and improve on it."
NEW ZEALAND v SOUTH AFRICA
New Zealand's quest for a third successive IRB Junior
World Championship title remains on course after they ran out
comfortable 36-7 winners over South Africa in the second semi final
at the Estadio El Coloso del Parque in Rosario on Sunday.
The 14th consecutive win for New Zealand in the Junior World
Championship was never really in doubt after ending the first half
ended with the Baby Blacks leading 22-0, having made the most of
their advantage of playing with the wind behind them.
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Patrick Lambie, the leading point scorer in the 2010
tournament with 61 points, missed an early penalty attempt for
South Africa and Julian Savea made that prove costly within
minutes, the wing handing off Branco du Preez before diving to
ensure he remained in touch to score the first try.
New Zealand captain Tyler Bleyendaal missed the conversion
from the touchline, but having seen Elton Jantjies pull a drop goal
attempt well wide, the fly half made no mistake with his next
effort to make it 8-0 after 20 minutes.
Lambie missed a second penalty and again within minutes New
Zealand made the Baby Boks pay, Tawera Kerr-Barlow taking a quick
tap to Bleyendaal, whose long pass gave second row Blade Thomson an
easy run in for the second try of the match.
A third try followed just past the half hour mark, number 8
Rory Grice capitalising on the space that opened in front of him
after prop Marcel van der Merwe failed to tackle him to charge
over, handing off two Baby Boks in the process.
South Africa had struggled to handle the Baby Blacks from the
first whistle, but were also guilty of wasting several
opportunities with handling errors. However, they finally got on
the board in the dying minutes with a try from Du Preez, the
smallest player in the 2010 tournament.
The Baby Boks, who have suffered semi final heartbreak in the
two previous Junior World Championships, may have had the wind in
their favour in the second half but they were unable to find a way
through be it because of handling errors or the resolute New
Zealand defence.
Instead it was Bleyendaal who kept the scoreboard ticking
over with four penalties, making the Baby Boks pay for their high
penalty count, before Savea scored his eighth try of the tournament
10 minutes from time, carrying defenders over the line and again
showing great special awareness to dot down before going into
touch.
Savea, who had been a doubt in the days leading up the match
with the knock he suffered to his hip against Wales, has now
matched the eight tries Zac Guildford scored in the 2009 tournament
and seems set to follow him into the All Black fold before too
long.
POST MATCH REACTION
New Zealand coach Dave Rennie: "I'm
really happy for the boys. They've put in a lot of hard work
and it'll be nice to have a bit of a look against Australia in
four days time. We always felt if we could hang onto the ball we
could put a lot of pressure onto South Africa, but we weren't
clinical enough at times. The first 10 was pretty patchy and the
next sort of 25 was pretty good but probably for the rest of the
game we didn't put the foot on the throat and it was only some
scrambling defence that kept them out.
"Julian Savea draws a fair bit of attention but we
probably didn't get him enough ball and that was a bit
frustrating. I think we've got to be mentally tougher, we got
off to a good lead and we should have really put them away but we
let them hang in there and they scored right on half time which
would have given them a bit of hope going into the second half so
that's something we've got to focus on. We were a bit
better in keeping possession but we've got to be a lot better
against Australia."
New Zealand captain Tyler Bleyendaal: "It is
very exciting, real proud of the boys today, it was a great effort.
It was definitely a battlefield out there as you probably could see
in the last three minutes or so when everyone was on the ground. I
am just really excited and the final, it is a great achievement to
make it and it is just going to be a great event."
South Africa coach Eric Sauls: "We are
bitterly disappointed with the defeat. Compliments to New Zealand.
They are the only undefeated team in the history of the tournament
and that experience showed today. They were more clinical than us
and they used their opportunities whenever they were on attack.
"We were also guilty of making too many mistakes early
in the game. Looking back, we were always chasing the game and the
Baby Blacks fed off many of our mistakes. They scored three tries
early in the first half and that made things a bit difficult for
us."
South AFrica captain CJ Stander: "It was a
hard game, a few mistakes here and there. New Zealand did great and
I must congratulate them on their game, they did very well. I think
both teams were great, they just scored on our mistakes. We
conceded points and they're a very disciplined team as well and
at the end they scored the most points. For the first 20 minutes
they scored a lot of points, I think 15, that gave them a head
start and it was hard for us to get back in the game."