Junior World Championships: Day One

England, New Zealand and South Africa were victorious on the opening day of the 2011 IRB Junior World Championships in Italy.

Wales, Australia, England, New Zealand, France and South Africa were victorious on the opening day of the 2011 IRB Junior World Championships in Italy.

New Zealand made a winning start to their defence of the Junior World title with a 64-7 win over hosts Italy in Treviso.

Auckland fly-half Gareth Anscombe scored a try and landed seven conversions and a penalty goal for a personal haul of 22 points while Charles Piutau, in touching down the first of first of his two tries, scored the 100th try by a New Zealander in the tournament's history.

The South African team also sent out a warning in their 33-0 drubbing of Scotland in their opening Pool C match in Padova. The Baby Boks cooked up a convincing performance as they ran in four unanswered tries.

Wales outscored Argentina four tries to one while England left it late to overcome Ireland.

England outscored Ireland four tries to one but needed a late try from Marland Yarde to secure a hard fought 33-25 win in Treviso.

Results

Argentina 8-34 Wales
Australia 54-7 Tonga
England 33-25 Ireland
Italy 7-64 New Zealand
South Africa 33-0 Scotland
France 24-12 Fiji

England vs Ireland
Stadio Comunale di Monigo in Treviso

Rob Hunter's men outscored Ireland four tries to one with scores from Worcester wing Andy Short and Sale Sharks prop Henry Thomas, Saracens prop Mako Vunipola and London Irish wing Marland Yarde. Leicester Tigers fly half George Ford added 13 points with the boot.
But it wasn't all plain sailing for England, as Ireland kept the scoreboard ticking through the boot of Dungannon's Paddy Jackson and his replacement James McKinney, both taking advantage of the high penalty count against England.
England got off to a dream start though, after forcing a scrum deep in Ireland's territory with two minutes played. Bath scrum half Chris Cook got the ball out quickly and smooth passing across the field cumulated in Worcester wing Andy Short flying over in the corner, with Ford converting.
Ford extended England's lead to 13-0, coolly dispatching two penalties after Irish infringements at the breakdown. Ireland missed two penalties of their own when Jackson kicked just wide both times. Jackson made no mistake with his third attempt though, slotting through with half an hour played to make the score 13-3.
England thought they had scored after a Ford grubber was taken by Short over the try line, but South African referee Jaco Peyper, deemed it not to have been touched down. Ireland then broke straight away through Blackrock College wing Andrew Conway who's attempted kick up field deflected kindly off England skipper Alex Gray's back and Conway collected before running through to touch down.
Heavy pressure from the restart allowed England to push hard on Ireland's try-line, and good work from Vunipola freed up space for Thomas to touch down. Ford missed the conversion, and Ireland scored a late penalty to take the score to 18-13 at the break.
England brought on Premiership winner Owen Farrell for Ryan Mills, but it was Ireland who drew first blood in the second half when Jackson scored a penalty to bring the Irish to within two points.
Just as things started to look very tense, Vunipola produced a solo try for England belying his position of tight-head. A lovely sidestep and brute strength freed the former Bristol prop up to dive over, giving England a 23-16 lead after Ford's conversion attempt hit the post.
Ireland's McKinney missed and then scored two penalties in quick succession to bring the Irish to within a point of England at 23-22.
McKinney then gave Ireland the lead for the first time in the match with 10 minutes remaining, converting another penalty. But England hit back with one of their own from Ford to give England the lead back at 26-25.
Ireland then had to contend with the sinbinning of back rower Shane Buckley and England made the most of the man advantage, as replacement wing Marland Yarde dived over in the corner to give England breathing space at 31-25, before Ford converted and England held out to win 33-25.

England: 15 Ben Ransom, 14 Andy Short, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Ryan Mills, 11 Jonathan Joseph, 10 George Ford, 9 Chris Cook, 8 Alex Gray (captain), 7 Matt Everard, 6 Matt Kvesic, 5 Charlie Matthews, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Mike Haywood, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements: 16 Rob Buchanan, 17 Ryan Bower, 18 Sam Twomey, 19 Sam Jones, 20) Dan Robson, 21 Owen Farrell, 22 Marland Yarde

Ireland: 15 Craig Gilroy, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Brendan Macken, 12 Luke Marshall, 11 Andrew Boyle, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 Eoin McKeon, 7 Dominic Gallagher, 6 Jordi Murphy, 5 Iain Henderson, 4 Michael Kearney, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Niall Annet (captain), 1 James Tracy
Replacements: 16 David Doyle, 17 Conor Carey, 18 Daniel Qualter, 19 Shane Buckley, 20 Peter du Toit, 21 James McKinney, 22 JJ Hanrahan

Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)

South Africa vs Scotland
Stadio Plebiscito in Padua

The South Africa Under-20 team sent a warning in their 33-0 drubbing of Scotland in their opening Pool C match at the IRB Junior World Championship in Padova, Italy on Friday.

The Baby Boks cooked up a convincing performance as they ran in four unanswered tries.

The South Africans, however, will face a tougher task when they meet Ireland, who lost 32-25 against England, in their next match.

Much of the credit for South Africa's win should go to the forwards and the loose forwards in particular. Two of the tries of the evening were scored by members of the loose trio.

Johan Goosen laid the foundation for the Baby Boks late in the first half, with two consecutive penalty conversions.

He then set up Blue Bulls centre Francois Venter for the first try of the evening.

The flyhalf broke the line and found Venter on his inside, with the latter trotting through for the first of four tries.

The Baby Boks had a few more stabs at the goal-line but they were unable to finish off properly.

South African eighth man and skipper, Arno Botha, however, reaped the benefits of constant pressure on the Scottish defensive line. Botha picked up the ball and broke away from a scrum 10 metres from the try-line to score the first of his two five-pointers.

The conversion by Goosen gave the Baby Boks a 21-0 cushion at the interval.

Scotland's woes continued in the second half with the SA team's forward pack continuing their dominance up front.

Venter once again crossed the goal-line thanks to an offload by flanker Siya Kolisi.

Botha scored his second try, which was similar to his first, 20 minutes before the final whistle.

As the match drew to an end, play became scrappy as the Boks lost some of their composure and structure.

South Africa: 15 Ulrich Beyers, 14 Tshotsho Mbovane, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 François Venter, 11 Wandile Mjekevu, 10