WRAP UP: U20 World Championship - Final

WRAP UP: U20 World Championship - Final

France retained their World Rugby U20 Championship title beating Australia by a single point on the final day of the competition while South Africa picked up the bronze medal and Scotland got relegated.

Here is our Wrap Up of the day's action:

BREAKTHROUGH PLAYER OF THE YEAR:



Final: Australia 23-24 France


Australia will rue their missed opportunities as Louis Corbonel's accurate boot proved to be the difference between the two sides as France defended their title.

There were seven lead changes in the closely fought contest with Australia taking the lead in the 48th second but in the end it would be France's game.



FULL REPORT FROM THE FINAL

3rd Place Playoff: Argentina 41-16 South Africa

The Junior Springboks delivered a strong first-half showing, which saw them score two converted tries and a penalty goal, while they limited the hosts to a penalty goal for an encouraging 17-3 lead.

 

The second half was dramatic as the home side came out with a bang, scoring back-to-back tries and a penalty goal to reduce their deficit to one point going into fourth quarter. But the SAU20’s showed their class and character to power through for the win as they scored a timely drop goal and three more tries to seal the victory.

Sanele Nohamba, Thakir Abrahams (2), JJ van der Mescht and Rickus Pretorius all dotted down for the Junior Boks with Nohamba adding five conversions and drop goal from Coetzer.

Joaquin de la Vega and Mateo Carreras both scored for the hosts, who struggled to break through the Green defensive wall.



Top Performers

JJ van der Mescht - Big carries and even more influential on defence. In the late stages of the game he made a good read and intercepted the ball, going over for a 30-metre try.

Rickus Pretorious - The inside side, who has been a pillar of strength for the South African U20s, was once inspirational again putting a fantastic shift, he read the game well on defence and his hard running lines caused lead to a number of tries for the Boks.

Mateo Carreras - The pick of the Argentine players. He was unfortunate to be on the losing team as he did everything right for a side that go so much wrong. Scored and saved a try in what was a well-balanced game by the left wing.

5th Place Playoff: England 45-26 Wales



England sealed fifth place at the World Rugby U20 Championship with a 45-26 victory over Wales in Rosario, Argentina.

England led 28-0 at the break through tries from Josh Hodge, Will Capon, a penalty try and Joe Heyes, with Hodge adding the extras.

Wales scored second-half tries through Jac Morgan, Dewi Lake, Ed Scragg but tries from Fraser Dingwall and Ted Hill, as well as Hodge's penalty, helped settled the game.

Top Performers

Josh Hodge - Flawless from the tee, scored a fabulous try from the midfield and had numerous great runs and clearance kicks too.

Dewi Lake - Extremely physical made 11 strong carries in the first 60 minutes of the game and dotted down for his side.

7th Place Playoff: Ireland 17-40 New Zealand



Ireland rounded off their 2019 World Rugby U20 Championships with defeat to New Zealand in their seventh-place playoff encounter after a horrible opening 20 minutes that saw them give the Baby Blacks a four-try lead.

Ireland came out a new-look team in the second half scoring 17 points in 15min. New Zealand absorbed the attack of Ireland and capitalized on their mistakes.

New Zealand scored two late tries to take the game away from the Irish and claim 7th place.

Top Performers

Etene Nanai Seturo - two tries, great under the high-ball, tons of running metres, always drew more than one defender and frequently beat those defenders.

Rivez Reihana - managed the game well, great kicking towards touch as well as posts. Put the backs away very well.

Simon Parker - massive on defense, plenty of turnovers, few big hits forcing turnovers.

Jake Flannery - managed to keep the Irish in the game as he unlocked the defence of NZ in the second half. Good kicking out of hand.

Angus Kernohan - Defended well, great under the high ball and managed to ruck up plenty of running metres.

9th Place Playoff: Italy 29-17 Georgia

Georgia seemed to be the dominant force in the first 5 minutes of the game but Italy quickly took control of the match as they scored a try in the 12th minute and Georgia got a yellow for a dangerous tackle. The next try scored was only in the second half by the Georgians where they scored 2 and a penalty. The Italians scored two more of their own and a penalty as well for them to take the win. Italy won the match with a final score of 29-17. 

Top Performers:

Mikheil Alania - A great all-round game and kicked superbly. He was all over the place and played fantastic rugby up until the 60th minute when he was taken off.

Antoine Koffi -The backbone of the Italian forwards and was either on his way to or from a ruck and was constantly making himself available for the donkey work.

Tedo Abzhandadze - kept his team going with well placed penalty kicks for touch and was fantastic under pressure.

Relegation Playoff: Scotland 34-59 Fiji

Scotland U20 were defeated by Fiji in this afternoon’s 11th place play-off and as a consequence will drop into next year’s World Rugby U20 Trophy competition.

Fiji were ultimately too good on the day and although Scotland threatened with five tries in the encounter, it wasn’t enough as the South Sea Islanders were able to convert a number of scintillating end-to-end tries.

Scotland rallied late in the second period and cut the gap to just 11 points with less than 10 minutes remaining, however Fiji were able to score two further tries in the closing stages to seal the comprehensive win.


Top Performers

Kaminieli Rasaku - played an important part in quite a few tries and made some good line breaks before getting a try of his own.

Ratu Waqaninavatu - had a brilliant game on the wing and got two tries for his team while being a strong player in the backline during other attacks

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