The star attraction on the final day of the IRB Junior World
Championship 2010 may be the title decider, but the battle for the
remaining places from third to 12th will be intensely fought.
3RD PLACE PLAY-OFF - ENGLAND 22-27 SOUTH AFRICA
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South Africa matched their achievements in the two previous
IRB Junior World Championships by finishing in third place with a
27-22 defeat of England at the Estadio El Coloso del Parque in
Rosario on Monday.
The Baby Boks had seen their title aspirations ended in the
semi finals by England in the two previous years, but having fallen
to New Zealand at this stage in Argentina the South Africans were
determined to finish third once more.
They enjoyed the perfect start when wing Nico Scheepers
scored the opening try in the eighth minute, taking the inside pass
from centre Francois Venter to coast over under the posts, giving
Patrick Lambie an easy conversion.
England hit back within minutes, England Sevens star
Christian Wade making the initial break before his fellow wing
Marcus Watson was sent over the line by centre Jonny May with
Freddie Burns adding the conversion to tie the scores at 7-7.
Burns, back in the starting line up after impressing off the
bench in the semi final loss to Australia, missed a penalty but
made amendments within minutes by touching down England's
second try and then curling in the conversion from the touchline.
The lively Lambie, the tournament's leading point scorer,
had a hand in South Africa's second try by sending Sibusiso
Sithole in at the corner, but his side still went in trailing 19-12
after England prop Joe Marler burrowed over the line.
South Africa, though, came out of the changing rooms in
determined mood and were rewarded instantly as Lambie combined
replacement Sithole to score in the corner. South Africa took the
lead just before the hour mark when Sithole touched down for his
second try, Lambie adding the conversion to take the Baby Boks out
to 24-19.
Rory Clegg did kick a penalty for England, but Lambie
restored the five point lead with a little more than 10 minutes to
play and despite their best efforts there was no way back for the
2008 and 2009 runners up, a good break by Tom Homer ultimately
seeing Marler put a foot in touch to end the match.
POST MATCH REACTION
England coach Mark Mapletoft: "That was disappointing, we were pretty inaccurate in everything we did and to finish on what I thought was a poor performance in many areas was disappointing. Hopefully the players themselves will learn about that and take that into their senior careers back in their clubs, some are already senior players anyway, and today that learning experience taught them that you can't be inaccurate, certainly in the tackle which was abysmal at times and some of our choice in passing, options taken in attack. We had plenty of enough ball and possession to win the game. Yeah, it was not ideal but I feel for the players more than me."
England captain Jacob Rowan: "We were obviously disappointed not to be in the final but we wanted to really come out today and really show what we were about, perform our skills and we were unfortaunte not to do that. I think our accuracy let us down both in attack and defence, a lot of times we created chances we just didn't finish them and in defence in the first half and pretty much in the second half we need to be a lot more clinical."
South Africa coach Eric Sauls: "Very proud of the boys, I think we were a bit nervous and especially third time trying it now, although we lost two times consecutively this is the third time lucky. Under pressure that was my structure [to force England to make errors] and also to the boys to put more pressure on their first phase, scrums and line outs and get them on the back foot so that they made mistakes. It luckily worked for us. It is important that we realise that our boys, like I said, don't have the level where they can play higher up. England, for example, they play in the Six Nations, quite a build up for them to the World Cup, we are scattered. Guys are playing Varsity Cup and there's no Under 20 rugby so when we get to our camps it's the only time that we can get the team and start building momentum."
South Africa captain CJ Stander: "We came for first but the best we did today came third, I'm proud of the boys they did very well. First half we were behind by a try, we came into the cloakrooms and said 'just come back, keep the structures'. I think our fitness and our defence got us through the game, England couldn't score at the end and that's what won us the game.
5TH PLACE PLAY-OFF - ARGENTINA 23-37 FRANCE
A five-try haul helped France overcome a spirited Argentina
37-23 at the Estadio CA Colon in Santa Fe on Monday to finish fifth
at the IRB Junior World Championship 2010.
The early stages of the match showed all the classic signs of
an onslaught with France dominating much of the possession and
revelling in throwing the ball out wide.
But Los Pumitas, showing little sign of fatigue following
their epic extra time and kicking competition victory over Wales
just four days earlier, did well to absorb the attack as France
struggled to convert possession into points.
Argentina had an opportunity to open the scoring in both the
second and 17th minutes however drop goal attempts by fly half
Ignacio Rodriguez Muedra failed to splice the posts.
Just five minutes later teammate Santiago Mendez managed to
rectify the situation when he nudged over a penalty, pushing
Argentina 3-0 ahead.
France were quick to respond with a rolling maul giving way
to a Kevin Gimeno try, with their strong tight five again coming to
the fore late in the half when second row Romain Taofifenua dotted
down to give his side a 12-3 lead.
Argentina were again first to score in the second half with a
second Mendez penalty, but again a persistent French outfit again
looked to their forwards to provide much needed fire power and a
second try to Gimeno was the result.
France continued their resurgence with a try by captain
Mickael Ivaldi in the 52nd minute and a penalty kick by fly half
Jean Marc Doussain extending their lead.
Argentina struck back later in the half with Tomás de la Vega
scooping up his own kick to dive across the line for the Los
Pumitas' first try of the match.
Replacement flanker Eduardo López ensured the host side
remained in the running with a try in the 69th minute. However a
fifth try to France, courtesy of a piece of Brice Dulin magic, all
but sealed Argentina's fate.
There was still time though for a consolation try for De la
Vega to give Los Pumitas' loyal supporters in the stands cause
for celebration with their highest ever finish in the Junior World
Championship guaranteed.
7TH PLACE PLAY-OFF - WALES 39-15 FIJI
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Morgan Allen's brace in the second half ensured that
Wales finished the IRB Junior World Championship 2010 on a positive
note with a 39-15 victory over Fiji in their seventh place play-off
at the Estadio CA Colon in Santa Fe on Monday.
Wales had gone in with only a slender 12-10 lead at half time
thanks to the reliable boot of fly half Matthew Jarvis, who with
his second penalty had become the third player to reach a century
of points in the tournament's three year history.
Jarvis kept the scoreboard ticking over with two penalties
before replacement Allen crossed for Wales' first try of the
match to increase their advantage over the islanders to 25-10 after
the conversion.
Fiji did cross for their second try of the match, Maritino
Nemani making up for his earlier yellow card, but this proved to be
their final score with Gareth Davies and Allen dotting down for
Wales who finish one place lower than in the 2009 tournament in
Japan.
Even with their second loss to Wales - having lost 31-3 in
the pool stages - Fiji will still return home with their best ever
finish in a Junior World Championship after previously finishing
14th in 2008 and 12th last year.
Fiji had actually enjoyed the dream start to the play-off as
centre Navitalai Ratulevu touched down in the first minute at the
Estadio CA Colon, full back Thomas Linde's conversion taking
them out to a 7-0 lead.
However, almost immediately Fiji handed Matthew Jarvis the
chance to put Wales on the scoreboard, the fly half making no
mistake with his penalty kick. Linde and Jarvis then traded
penalties.
Jarvis cut the Fijian advantage to a single point with
another penalty in the 23rd minute after wing Maritino Nemani was
sent to the sin bin by referee Jaco Peyper. Wales, though, were
unable to capitalise on their man advantage and it was only
Jarvis' penalty in the dying seconds that gave his side the
lead for the first time.
POST MATCH REACTION
Wales coach Phil Davies: "Very pleased, a
tough tournament for us but you know, we had three wins, one draw
and a losing game against New Zealand so you know overall we're
quite pleased with the tournament and pleased today because the
players, it was tough after a long three and a half weeks, and
we're very proud of the boys to win that match, very good.
"I think this is a superb tournament that the IRB put
together and the standard of this tournament has gone up from last
year and we're very pleased. We were ripe to have a fifth and
sixth finish but seventh is okay and we will go back to Wales and
try to do better next year."
Wales captain Dan Watchurst: "Inside the
changing room we're obviously all very happy now, the
tournament has finished and we came seventh. We felt deep down we
could have done better really but obviously we've got to be
happy with where we came now. It's been a great experience for
all of us, obviously this part of our development is really
important, playing the southern hemisphere sides but the more
exposure we can get out there against the boys like that it's
great for us."
Fiji coach Eroni Vereivalu: "First of all let
me congratulate Phil Davies and his Wales boys for a job well done.
This is the second match in which we've started very well
playing in the first half but we lose out towards the end of the
game. I think the problem with my Fijian players is the mental
toughness, we've got to work on that, we give away the games
right in the last 10 minutes of the game."
Fiji captain Severo Domoni: "We could have
had them but we just made some silly mistakes, decisions. I think
we could have got there, but it's all right, the game's
over and everyone is happy. We are happy, going from the bottom 12
and now to eighth."
9TH PLACE PLAY-OFF - IRELAND 53-23 SCOTLAND
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A hat trick by Andrew Conway ensured Ireland finished ninth
at the IRB Junior World Championship 2010 by overwhelming Scotland
53-23 at the Club Atletico Estudiantes in Paraná.
The Ireland full back took just 12 minutes to cross for his
first try and by the time he touched down his second Ireland had
established a 25-6 lead with Scotland's only response two
penalties from the boot of Duncan Weir.
In between Conway's brace, fly half Noel Reid had touched
down for Ireland's second try, having already got on the
scoreboard with two penalties after Simon Zebo had kicked his side
into a seventh minute lead.
Scotland did cut the deficit with Robert Harley's try
around the half hour mark with Weir adding his third penalty of the
day but Ireland were in determined mood to finish the tournament on
a positive note.
In total, Ireland crossed for seven tries in the encounter
against a side they had beaten 44-15 in this year's RBS Under
20 Six Nations and also 39-12 in the ninth place play-off in the
2008 Junior World Championship.
Wing Zebo crossed for Ireland's fourth try within minutes
of the restart and there was no let up for Scotland with captain
Niall Annett following suit shortly afterwards.
Scotland captain Stuart McInally did score another try for
Scotland, but this was merely a catalyst for Conway to complete
this hat-trick and scrum half John Cooney to touch down
Ireland's final try of the tournament.
Ireland coach Allen Clarke:
""It''s top drawer from us, it shows the ambition
of the group and the attitude of the group' has been there all
along. I''ve said it before that the group we came out of
was tough, we lost narrowly in three games and it was difficult to
keep ourselves focused but all testament to the players there,
they''ve been absolutely fantastic. I''m delighted
for them because they''ve shown their true ability today.
""Argentina have hosted this tournament
fantastically and it''s a tremendous credit to Argentina. I
thoroughly, and I know the squad thoroughly, enjoyed their time
here and the people of Argentina have been brilliant to us and you
know the Championship has been the best I''ve been to so
far.""
Ireland captain Niall Annett:
""Obviously to get a win is brilliant for us. We think
there''s always aspects you can work on, but to finish here
with that sort of scoreline is brilliant. We''re very happy
for the lads, it wasn''t an easy tournament for us but at
the end of the day we can be happy. "We started off poorly, we
were very disappointed with our first series results, but we came
back here with two wins and we reassessed our options and
we''re happy now.""
Scotland coach Eamon John: "We're really
disappointed in that performance today. We played in patches and
Ireland took their chances and got away from us so we're
bitterly disappointed today. "I think the tournament has been
a really good learning curve for all the players, World
Championships are. There will be some players that will come
through and really benefit from this experience but others will
have it in their memory bank forever and probably that will be
where they are, but that''s the nature of World Cups at
this level.""
Scotland player Robert Harley: ""It was
a game of real ups and downs for us out there. When we played rugby
we played some really, really good rugby and scored a couple of
great tries, but I thought the Irish were really, really clinical
when they got half breaks they ended up with a try almost every
time and they were really dangerous against us."
11TH PLACE PLAY-OFF - SAMOA V TONGA
Tonga safeguarded their place in next year's IRB Junior
World Championship by overcoming an enthusiastic Samoan side 23-3
in the 11th place play-off at the Club Atletico Estudiantes in
Paraná.
With both sides desperate to snaffle their first win of the
tournament, all the signs were there for an entertaining match that
would see players pushed to their physical brink in the effort to
avoid relegation to the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy in 2011.
But in the end Tonga had too much heart for their fellow
islanders, running in three tries to none and keeping the Samoan
scoring limited to just one penalty right on the half time whistle.
Both sides had been quick to show their ambition to attack
early on with the scoring opened at the 17th minute with a Tonga
penalty, with Michael Toloke calmly slotting another between the
posts eight minutes later to take his side out to 6-0.
Tonga dominated possession for much of the first half, taking
advantage of some good runs through the openside to rattle the
Samoan defence. Fly half James Naufahu, playing in just his third
game of the tournament following two matches out injured, was
instrumental in Tonga's efforts, combining with full back
Salesi Piutau to drive deep into the Samoan half.
Their patience was finally rewarded in the 31st minute when
wing Otulea Katoa crossed the line, extending Tonga's lead to
11-0. Ill discipline allowed Samoan fly half Karl Maleilegoal the
chance to get his side's first and only points on the board
with a penalty closing the gap to just eight points heading into
the break.
The second half started with much the same intensity,
although the quick fire pace led to a large number of handling
errors from both Pacific island nations.
Tonga scored their second try 47 minutes in when a rolling
maul advanced the ball several metres and replacement second row
Sione Aho was able to dot down for his first try of the tournament.
Five minutes shy of the final whistle Piutau joined the fray,
charging down the touchline to cross over for Tonga's third and
final try. Scrum half Manu Soatame, who struggled during the
earlier stages of the competition, finally finding a bit of form to
nail the conversion.
Samoa's place in the next year's competition will be
taken by Italy, the JWC 2011 hosts and winners of the IRB Junior
World Rugby Trophy in Moscow last month.
