Argentina humble Junior Boks as Italy stun Australia 

ROUND TWO WRAP: Argentina clinched a convincing victory over hosts South Africa as Italy stunned Australia in the World Rugby Under-20 Championship on Thursday.

The pressure is real now for South Africa to top their pool after they succumbed to a 12-31 defeat to Argentina.

Argentina dominated from the outset and crossed the line in the fourth minute through hooker Juan Greising Revol.

Four minutes later No.8 Juan Pedro Bernasconi dotted down for the South Americans’ second followed by a try in the 23rd minute by Revol to get his brace which took his side into a 17-0 lead at the break.

The bonus point try for Argentina came in the 48th minute through captain Efrain Elias.

South Africa finally got on the scoreboard due to a penalty try after an indiscretion by Felipe Bruno Schmidt.

Flank Juan Penoucos dotted down in the 70th minute before Bathobele Hlekani got a consolation score at the death which Koen failed to convert after an evening to forget for the pivot.

Italy stun Australia in Athlone

In a low-scoring affair – Italy and Australia couldn’t beach each other’s defensive line until the 27th minute when Luca Bellucci crossed over for the opening score to take the lead into half-time by 7-0.

Australia’s second half started horribly with a yellow card to flank Dane Sawers.

Three minutes later hooker Valerio Siciliano dotted down for Italy’s second.

Two minutes later opposition hooker Ottavio Tuipulotu cancelled out Siciliano’s score with a try of his own.

Wing Ronan Leahy scored Australia’s third and final try of the evening as McLaughlin-Phillips missed the conversion to level the scores.

Italy hit the final nail in the coffin when flyhalf Simone Brisighella slotted a penalty attempt to give Italy a hard-fought 17-12 victory over the Junior Wallabies.

New Zealand break French hearts

New Zealand took a great step in their quest to cement their top spot in Pool A as they claimed a hard-fought 27-26 win over defending champions France.

France started off strongly as they almost scored due to a misfiring lineout by New Zealand in their own 22.

The pressure eventually turned into points when France fullback Xan Mousques dotted down for the opening try.

Flyhalf Hugo Reus extended France’s lead to eight points when he succeeded with a penalty attempt in the 22nd minute after New Zealand flank Andrew Smith received a yellow card for foul play.

Fortunately for New Zealand, those were the only points they conceded during Smith’s sin-bin period.

Reus extended France’s lead to 11-0 with a penalty kick heading into half-time.

The second half turned out to be all New Zealand.

Centre Aki Tuivailala crashed over for the first of New Zealand’s four tries – converted by flyhalf Rico Simpson.

France struck back with a try of their own through flank Joe Quere Karaba in the 50th minute but three minutes later Wing Stanley Solomon struck back for New Zealand.

France scrumhalf Leo Carbonneau received a yellow card in the 57th minute as New Zealand went on to score two more unconverted tries through Dylan Pledger and Manumaua Letiu with a solitary penalty by Reus for France in between the two scores.

France took the lead back with an unconverted try in the 74th minute by wing Mathis Ferte.

New Zealand had a penalty reversed due to foul play by Joshua Smith and it seemed as if France had the match won – however, New Zealand showed their class to keep playing and a penalty in the 80th minute by Simpson saw New Zealand be victorious in Stellenbosch leaving the defending champions in a vulnerable position to qualify for the knockout stages.

England cruise past Fiji

England claimed their second win of the tournament with a resounding win over Fiji to spice up Pool C.

Fiji started the match in the worst possible way when loose forward Ebernerzer Tuidraki was yellow-carded.

Fiji got on the scoreboard first with a penalty through fullback Isikeli Basiyalo but then England’s dominance started.

Five tries with three being converted gave England a 31-3 lead by the 32nd minute before a penalty by Basiyalo in the 36th minute for Fiji.

Wing Angus Hall capped off the first half with an unconverted try to give England a 36-6 lead heading into half-time.

England started the second half in the same fashion as Fiji did when lock Harvey Cuckson was yellow carded – but this didn’t have any negative effect on England as they scored two more tries through James and Cousins in the 60th and 76th minutes respectively.

Keane James received a yellow card after the full-time hooter and play continued until the 85th minute when replacement Benjamin Naivalu crashed over to have the final say of the match for Fiji.

Ireland break Georgian hearts

Ireland opened the scoring as quick as the sixth minute through a try by inside centre Hugh Gavin which was converted by flyhalf Sean Naughton.

Ireland looked to be over again in the ninth minute but the try was ruled out as there was obstruction in the build-up.

Another try came in the 20th minute through hooker Stephen Smyth.

Georgia struck back just before and on the stroke of half-time with back-to-back penalties by flyhalf Luka Tsirekidze.

Georgia showed great fight in the second half and it paid off as the captain Nika Lomidze went over in the 45th minute to go ahead in the clash.

They had another opportunity to score off a rolling maul five metres from the line but got penalised for obstruction.

Naughton slotted a penalty attempt in the 57th minute before Tsirekidze cancelled it out in the 62nd minute to reclaim the lead.

Two missed penalty attempts came back to haunt Georgia as they looked set to get a famous win over Ireland, but through great composure and execution, Ireland finally broke through the Georgian defence when Treacy went over for the match-winning score off a long pass.

Wales record first victory

In the other clash – Wales claimed their first win of the competition with a 31-10 victory over Spain in Athlone.

Wales wasted no time to open the scoring when wing Kodi Stone dotted down for the opening try in the first minute which was converted by Harri Ford.

Spain struck back with a penalty through flyhalf Gonzalo Otamendi after a yellow card was shown to Owen Conquer.

Ford slotted another penalty in the 15th minute with outside centre Elijah Evans crossing the line in the 27th minute which Ford converted.

Scrumhalf Nicolas Infer received a yellow card in the 30th minute but Spain managed it well and scored a try five minutes out from half-time.

That score got cancelled when Wales prop Ioan Emanuel dotted down on the stroke of halftime to take a 24-10 lead into the break.

The second half was a stop-start affair with Spain being held scoreless and Wales struggling to convert opportunities – with only one try coming from Ieuan Davies which earned them a 31-10 victory.

See below for Thursday’s scores and scorers!

South Africa 12-31 Argentina

Scorers: 
For South Africa:
Tries: Hlekani, penalty try

For Argentina:
Tries: Pedro Bernasconi, Penoucos, Elias, Revol 2
Cons: Di Lucca 3

Teams:

South Africa: 15 Bruce Sherwood, 14 Joel Leotlela, 13 Jurenzo Julius, 12 Phillip-Albert van Niekerk, 11 Litelihle Bester, 10 Liam Koen, 9 Asad Moos, 8 Tiaan Jacobs, 7 Bathobele Hlekani, 6 Thabang Mphafi, 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Jaco Grobbelaar, 3 Zachary Porthen (captain), 2 Luca Bakkes, 1 Ruan Swart.
Replacements: 16 Ethan Bester, 17 Liyema Ntshanga, 18 Casper Badenhorst, 19 Thomas Dyer, 20 Keanu Coetsee, 21 Sibabalwe Mahashe, 22 Tylor Sefoor, 23 Joshua Boulle.

Argentina: 15 Benjamin Elizalde, 14 Timotea Silva, 13 Faustino Sanchez Valarolo, 12 Tomas Medina, 11 Franco Rossetto, 10 Santino Di Lucca, 9 Tomas Di Biase, 8 Juan Pedro Bernasconi, 7 Santos Fernansez de Oliveira, 6 Juan Penoucos, 5 Felipe Bruno, 4 Efrain Elias (captain), 3 Tomas Rapetti, 2 Juan Greising Revol, 1 Diego Correa.
Replacements: 16 Juan Manuel Vivas, 17 Joaquin Yakiche, 18 Gael Galvan, 19 Alvaro Garcia Iandolino, 20 Agustin Sareelli, 21 Jeronimo LLorens, 22 Facundo Rodriguez, 23 Felipe Ledesma.

Referee: Takehito Namekwa
Assistant referees: Federico Vedovelli, Zoe Naude
TMO: Damon Murphy

Australia 12-17 Italy

Scorers:

For Australia:
Tries: Tuipulotu, Leahy
Con: McLaughlin-Phillips

For Italy: Tries: Siciliano, Bellucchi
Cons: Brisighella 2
Pen: Brisighella

Teams:

Australia: 15 Shane Wilcox, 14 Ronan Leahy, 13 Kadin Pritchard, 12 Jarrah McLeod, 11 Angus Staniforth, 10 Harry McLaughlin-Phillips, 9 Dan Nelson, 8 Jack Harley, 7 Dane Sawers, 6 Aden Ekanayake, 5 Ollie McCrea, 4 Toby Macpherson (captain), 3 Trevor King, 2 Ottavio Tuipulotu, 1 Lington Ieli.
Replacements: 16 Bryn Edwards, 17 Nathaniel Tiitii, 18 Nick Bloomfield, 19 Eamon Doyle, 20 Dominic Thygesen, 21 Billy Dickens, 22 Joe Dillon, 23 Frankie Goldsbrough.

Italy: 15 Mirko Belloni, 14 Francesco Imberti, 13 Nicola Bozzo (captain), 12 Patrick de Villiers 11 Lorenzo Elettri, 10 Simone Brisighella, 9 Lorenzo Casilio, 8 Giacomo Milano, 7 Luca Bellucci, 6 Nelson Casartelli, 5 Piero Gritti, 4 Samuele Mirenzi, 3 Federico Pisani, 2 Valerio Siciliano, 1 Sergio Pelliccioli.
Replacements: 16 Nicholas Gasperini, 17 Francesco Gentile, 18 Davide Ascari, 19 Tommaso Redondi, 20 Mattia Midena, 21 Jacopo Botturi, 22 Mattia Jimenez, 23 Marco Scalabrini.

Referee: Sam Grove-White
Assistant referees: Neheun Jauri Rivero, Griffin Colby
TMO: Mark Patton

Ireland 22-16 Georgia

Scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries: Smyth, Treacy, Gavin
Cons: Murphy, Naughton
Pen: Naughton

For Georgia:
Try: Lomidze
Con: Tsirekidze
Pens: Tsirekidze 3

Teams:

Ireland: 15 Ben O’Connor, 14 Davy Colbert, 13 Sam Berman, 12 Hugh Gavin, 11 Ruben Moloney, 10 Sean Naughton, 9 Oliver Coffey, 8 Luke Murphy, 7 Max Flynn, 6 Sean Edogbo, 5 Evan O’Connell (captain), 4 James McKillop, 3 Andrew Sparrow, 2 Stephen Smyth, 1 Jacob Boyd.
Replacements: 16 Mikey Yarr, 17 Emmet Calvey, 18 Patreece Bell, 19 Alan Spicer, 20 Brian Gleeson, 21 Tadhg Brophy, 22 Jack Murphy, 23 Finn Treacy.

Georgia: 15 Otar Metreveli, 14 Luka Khorbaladze, 13 Luka Kobauri, 12 Giorgi Khaindrava, 11 Luka Keshelava, 10 Luka Tsirekidze, 9 Aleksandre Jigauri, 8 Nika Lomidze, 7 Andro Dvali, 6 Luka Suluashvili, 5 Davit Lagvilava, 4 Temur Tsulukidze, 3 Davit Mchedlidze, 2 Mikheil Khakhubia, 1 Luka Ungiadze.
Replacements: 16 Shota Kheladze, 17 Luka Kotorashvili, 18 Davit Kuntelia, 19 Murtaz Tskhadadze, 20 Tornike Ghaniashvili, 21 Mikheil Kachlavashvili, 22 Luka Takaishvili, 23 Nugzar Kevkhishvili.

Referee: Reuben Keane
Assistant referees: Morne Ferreira, Zoe Naude
TMO: Damon Murphy

Wales 31-10 Spain

Scorers:

For Wales:
Tries: I Emanuel, Evans, Davies, Stone
Cons: S Emaunel, Ford 3
Pen: Ford

For Spain:
Try: Guirao
Con: Otamendi
Pen: Otamendi

Teams:

Wales: 15 Matty Young, 14 Harry Rees-Weldon, 13 Elijah Evans, 12 Steff Emanual, 11 Kodi Stone, 10 Harri Wilde, 9 Rhodri Lewis, 8 Owen Conquer, 7 Morgan Morse, 6 Ryan Woodman (captain), 5 Nick Thomas, 4 Jonny Green, 3 Kian Hire, 2 Harry Thomas, 1 Ioan Emanuel.
Replacement: 16 Isaac Young, 17 Jordan Morris, 18 Sam Scott, 19 Osian Thomas, 20 Will Austin, 21 Ieuan Davies, 22 Harri Wilde, 23 Louie Hennessey.

Spain: 15 Lucien Richardis, 14 Julien Burguillos, 13 Alberto Carmona, 12 Yaco Fernandez, 11 Roberto Ponce, 10 Gonzalo Otamendi, 9 Nicolas Infer, 8 Manex Ariceta (captain), 7 Jokin Zolezzi, 6 Nicolas Moleti, 5 Adam LLinares, 4 Pablo Guirao, 3 Aniol Franch, 2 Diego Gonzalez, 1 Hugo Gonzalez.
Replacements: 16 David Gallego, 17 Alberto Gomez, 18 Guido Reyes, 19 Martin Serrano, 20 Valentino Rizzo, 21 Javi Lopez de Haro, 22 Unax Zuriarrain, 23 Gabriel Rocaries.

Referee: Aimee Barrett-Theron
Assistant referees: AJ Jacobs, Griffin Colby
TMO: Mike Adamson

France 26-27 New Zealand

Scorers: 

For France:
Tries: Ferte, Mousques, KarabaCon: Reus
Pens: Reus 3

For New Zealand:
Tries: Pledger, Letiu, Solomon, Tuivailala
Cons: Simpson 2
Pen: Simpson

Teams:

France: 15 Xan Mousques, 14 Nathan Bollengier, 13 Fabien Brau-Boirie, 12 Mathys Belaubre, 11 Mathis Ferte, 10 Hugo Reaus, 9 Leo Carbonneau, 8 Mathis Castro-Ferreira, 7 Geoffrey Malaterre, 6 Joe Quere Karaba, 5 Charles Kante Samba, 4 Corentin Mezou, 3 Zinedine Aouad, 2 Barnabe Massa, 1 Lino Julien.
Replacements: 16 Thomas Lacombre, 17 Lorencio Boyer Gallardo, 18 Thomas Duchene, 19 Brent Liufau 20 Sialevailea Tolofua, 21 Thomas Souverbie, 22 Maxence Biasotto, 23 Axel Desperes.

New Zealand: 15 Issac Hutchinson, 14 Xavier Tito-Harris, 13 Aki Tuivailala, 12 Xavi Taele, 11 Stanley Solomon, 10 Rico Simpson, 9 Dylan Pledger, 8 Mosese Bason, 7 Johnny Lee, 6 Andrew Smith, 5 Liam Jack, 4 Tom Allen, 3 Logan Wallace, 2 Vernon Bason (captain), 1 Will Martin.
Replacements: 16 Manumaua Letiu, 17 Sika Pole, 18 Josh Smith, 19 Cam Christie, 20 Matt Lowe, 21 Ben O’Donovan, 22 Sam Coles, 23 King Maxwell.

Referee: Adam Jones
Assistant referees: Federico Vedovelli, Morne Ferreira
TMO: Ben Whitehouse

England 48-11 Fiji

Scorers:

For England:
Tries: Halliwell, James, Isaacs, Pollock, Hall 2, Cousins 2
Cons: Coen

For Fiji: Tries: Naivalu
Pens: Basiyalo 2

Teams:

England: 15 Ioan Jones, 14 Toby Cousins, 13 Ben Waghorn, 12 Oli Spencer, 11 Angus Hall, 10 Benjamin Coen, 9 Ollie Allan, 8 Arthur Green, 7 Kane James, 6 Finn Carnduff (captain), 5 Olamide Sodeke, 4 Harvey Cuckson, 3 James Halliwell, 2 James Isaacs, 1 Cameron Miell.
Replacements: 16 Craig Wright, 17 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 18 Afolabi Fasogbon, 19 Junior Kpoku, 20 Henry Pollock, 21 Lucas Friday, 22 Josh Bellamy, 23 Alex Wills.

Fiji: 15 Isikeli Basiyalo, 14 Avakuki Niusalelekitoga, 13 Harrison Valevatu, 12 Joseva Ubitau, 11 Sivaniolo Kalaveti, 10 Bogidrau Kikau, 9 Aisea Nawai, 8 Simon Koroiyadi, 7 Ronald Sharma, 6 Ebernezer Tuidraki, 5 Iliesa Erenavula, 4 Nalani May (captain), 3 Elroy Macomber, 2 Moses Armstrong-Ravula, 1 Mataiasi Tuisireli.
Replacements: 16 Iowane Vakadrigi, 17 Breyton Legge, 18 Luke Nasau, 19 Malakai Masi, 20 Ratu Nemani Kurucake, 21 Samuela Ledua, 22 Ponipate Tuberi, 23 Benjamin Naivalu.

Referee: Saba Abulashvili
Assistant referees: Neheun Jauri Rivero, AJ Jacobs
TMO: Matteo Liperini