Junior World Championship wrap – Pool C
Australia laid down an impressive marker for the rest of the IRB Junior World Championship as they overwhelmed Canada 81-12 on a cool, dry afternoon at Rodney Parade in Newport on Friday.
Australia laid down an impressive marker for the rest of the IRB Junior World Championship as they overwhelmed Canada 81-12 on a cool, dry afternoon at Rodney Parade in Newport on Friday.
The win was based on a significant power advantage up front with Canada simply unable to regularly secure their own possession, and was backed up by slick hands and pace across the backline.
The game was effectively over as a contest in the first quarter with Australia, led from the front by their impressive skipper David Pocock, already having run in four converted tries – through Pocock, Ben McCalman, Rob Horne and James Hanson – despite some valiant Canadian defence.
Canadian heads never dropped, however, and they enjoyed a good spell on the half hour with scrum half Sean White prominent and their reward was a try for centre Matt Evans.
However, the Australians put their collective foot straight back onto the gas and ran in two more tries through Ratu Nasiganiyavi and Dane Haylett-Petty before the break for a 45-5 lead at half time.
A number of half-time replacements affected the cohesion of the Australian play for a while yet they opened the second half with two more tries in the first 10 minutes through McCalman and Nasiganiyavi before the ever willing White responded as he wriggled over from a quick tap penalty.
Despite the number of tackles they had made throughout the game, the Canadians refused to wilt until four late tries – including a double from replacement Junior Sovala Futi – completed the job for Australia.
Australian wing Nasiganiyavi caught the eye with his two well taken long tries and generally looked menacing every time he gained possession, while full back Haylett-Petty weighed in with a hat trick.
“It's the first game in a while that we've all played together so it was a good first hit out. There were plenty of positives, we scored plenty of tries but there's plenty to work on in the next few days,” said Force flanker Pocock.
England did their best to respond in kind to the wallabies by running in six tries on their way to a 41-17 win over Fiji at Rodney Parade with Alex Goode pulling the strings in a fine display of fly half skills.
The early evening Newport sun may well have suited the islanders, but it was England who excelled in the conditions with the back three of Miles Benjamin, Seb Stegmann and Noah Cato revelling in the space afforded them by Goode's excellent passing off either hand.
Leading 41-0 at the interval in this IRB Junior World Championship encounter after tries from Benjamin (2), Cato, Goode, Stegmann and centre Jordan Turner-Hall, it was only handling errors that had prevented England from scoring more with the Fijians often reduced to chasing shadows.
However, the second half was a different matter as the U20 Six Nations Grand Slam winners seemed to have switched off slightly and the Fijians enjoyed some rewarding forays into English territory, displaying some typically extravagant handling in the process.
Further try scoring opportunities were created but spurned by England with Mark Odejobi, Benjamin and Alex Tait all coming close as Nigel Redman's team struggled to recapture the heights of the first half and Fiji duly raised the Rodney Parade roof with three well-worked tries in the final quarter as their confidence visibly grew.
England strove in vain for a further score to respond to the tries from Peni Rokodiva, Waqabaca Kotobalavu and wing William Saukuru and their growing frustration was perhaps typified by the sin-binning of replacement hooker Joe Gray.
A comfortable enough win for England, but a real game of two halves and the second half display will give Redman much food for thought before his side face Canada at the same venue on Tuesday.
with thanks to the IRB