Junior World Championship, Day 2, Pool D

Wales struggled to see off Japan 33-10 at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea on Tuesday, but move into their final Pool D game against the French on Saturday night knowing victory will send them into the semi-finals.

Wales struggled to see off Japan 33-10 at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea on Tuesday, but move into their final Pool D game against the French on Saturday night knowing victory will send them into the semi-finals.

After early pressure from the Japanese, Wales took the lead courtesy of a try from full-back Jason Tovey. The Japanese were certainly not overawed by the occasion and dominated in all areas after that.

However, a lack of finishing power proved their Achilles heel and after Wales had found their feet, they wrested back control.

Admittedly, their execution and accuracy was relatively poor, with wing Nathan Rees and scrum-half Gareth Williams both missing golden opportunities to add to Tovey's early score.

However, nine minutes from the interval, Rees made up for his earlier miss when he dashed in at the corner for a try that Halfpenny converted from the touchline.

Outside centre Luke Ford added a third in the 38th minute to ease a few nerves and Halfpenny's conversion and a try a minute later made sure of the bonus-point win.

To their credit, Japan gave as good as they got in the early stages of the second half and centre Aisea Havea deserved his try in the 51st minute after two quickly taken penalties deep in the Wales 22.

Yellow cards for Wales captain and number eight Sam Warburton and loosehead prop Sam Hobbs handed Japan a numerical advantage as the game moved into its final quarter and while they were in the bin, replacement Masataka Mikami bagged a second try, as did Rees for Wales.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Tries: Tovey, Rees 2, Ford, Halfpenny
Cons: Halfpenny 4

For Japan:
Tries: Havea, Mikami

Wales: 15 Jason Tovey, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Luke Ford, 12 Rhys Williams, 11 Nathan Rees, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Gareth Williams, 8 Sam Warburton (captain), 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Lloyd Phillips, 5 Jevon Groves, 4 Ashley Sweet, 3 Scott Andrews, 2 Ryan Prosser, 1 Sam Hobbs
Replacements: 16 Rhys Lawrence, 17 Ryan Bevington, 18 Patrick Palmer, 19 Josh Turnbull, 20 Jonathan Davies, 21 Rhys Webb, 22 Gareth Owen

Japan: 15 Tsuyoshi Iguchi, 14 Daisuke Natsui, 13 Yasutaka Sasakura, 12 Aisea Havea, 11 Katsuyuki Sakai, 10 Shingo Yoshida, 9 Shuhei Oshima, 8 Michael Leitch (C), 7 Ryuhei Arita, 6 Tsuyoshi Murata, 5 Eiri Nakada, 4 Pohiva Lotoahea, 3 Keiichi Tanaka, 2 Motoki Yamazaki, 1 Koichi Nitta
Replacements: 16 Masataka Mikami, 17 Shinsuke Ono, 18 Keisuke Matsuda, 19 Hiroaki Sugimoto, 20 Mizuki Yanagihara, 21 Takuya Nakajima, 22 Takamasa Okubo

Meanwhile, France set themselves up for a winner-takes-all Pool D clash with Wales on Saturday with a four-try victory over Italy at the Liberty Stadium.

Early tries once again put paid to the Italian challenge, with the French capitalising on a string of unforced errors from their opponents.

Just as they had against the Japanese on Friday, France found themselves ahead inside two minutes when outside centre Yann David broke through to send over left wing Djibril Camara.

Fly-half Alexandre Dumoulin converted and though his opposite number Riccardo Bocchino reduced the arrears with a fifth-minute penalty from the touchline, the French pivot restored his side's seven-point lead with a penalty in the 13th minute.

Captain Thierry Lacrampe extended that advantage with a charged-down try two minutes later before Bocchino replied with his second successful kick.

Flanker Louis Madaule bagged his first try of the competition a minute before the interval but the Italians struck back yet again almost immediately, with Bocchino once again on target with a penalty from 30 metres.

The Italian defence was outstanding at the start of the second half, although having conceded a penalty close to their own line, Madaule crossed for his second try, which replacement Mathieu Belie converted.

Welsh referee Tim Hayes had to stop the match for eight minutes while France number eight Wencelas Lauret was taken from the field on a stretcher, and a minute after the game restarted, Italy full-back Andrea Pratichetti burst over for his side's opening try.

Belie added a penalty for France but the match finished on a sour note when France replacement centre Mathieu Bastareaud was sent off for a dangerous tackle and Italy replacement Giovanni Massaro sent to the sin-bin for killing the ball at a ruck.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries: Camara, Lacrampe, Madaule 2
Cons: Dumoulin 2, Belie
Pens: Dumoulin, Belie

For Italy:
Try: Andrea Pratichetti
Pens: Bocchino 3

France: 15 Guillaume Namy, 14 Benjamin Fall, 13 Yann David, 12 Henry Chavancy, 11 Djibril Camara, 10 Alexandre Dumoulin, 9 Thierry Lacrampe (captain), 8 Louis Madaule, 7 Wencelas Lauret, 6 Arthur Chollon, 5 Baptiste Hezard, 4 Jean-Baptiste Roidot, 3 Clement Ric, 2 Marc Antoine Rallier, 1 Rabah Slimani
Replacements: 16 Clement Maynadier, 17 Kevin Kervarec, 18 Yoann Maestri, 19 Raphaël Lakafia, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 Mathieu Belie, 22 Mathieu Bastareaud

Italy: 15 Andrea Pratichetti, 14 Andrea Bacchetti, 13 Roberto Quartaroli, 12 Alberto Chiesa (captain), 11 Edoardo Rotella, 10 Riccardo Bocchino, 9 Carlo Vannini, 8 Luca Petillo, 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Filippo Giusti, 5 Alberto Cazzola, 4 Emiliano Caffini, 3 Massimiliano Ravalle, 2 Gabriele Morelli, 1 Andrea De Marchi
Replacements: 16 Otis Lombardi, 17 Luca Zara, 18 Joshua Furno, 19 Giacomo Bernini, 20 Rudolph Mernone, 21 Giovanni Massaro, 22 Alessandro Castagnoli.

With thanks to the IRB