Fiji and Tonga head for showdown

Islanders stay on top in U19 World Championship division B

Fiji and Tonga finished first and second in the Division B table of the U19 World Championship in Dubai after wins over Russia and Georgia respectively on day five of the action.

Fji coasted to a 43-3 win over Russia while Tonga overcame Canada 16-9.

Italy finished third after their 37-18 win over Uruguay and will now meet Tonga in the next phase, with Canada finishing fourth after their 86-0 win over Korea, setting themselves up for a second-round tie with the flying Fijians.

Chinese Taipei and USA both scored their first tournament points after drawing 17-17, and Chile lost 14-6 to Namibia in the day's other game, which was Namibia's first win in the tournament.

Chinese Taipei and the USA will now meet again in the next round, while Korea have another shot at getting a win with a match against Namibia.

There are also two 'derbies' in the next round, with Georgia playing Russia and Chile meeting Uruguay.

Division B Round Three Reports:

Fiji 43-3 Russia

Fiji got their third successive pool stage victory with a solid bonus point defeat of a brave Russia at Dubai Exiles RFC, giving them maximum points in the pool stages.

The South Sea islanders opened the scoring in the fourth minute through full back Iliesa Keresoni, who made a 40-metre dash down the right touchline after Russia turned the ball over.

Centre Tomasi Mawi was next over the line after linking well with flanker Sakenasa Aca.

Russia then pulled three points back with a 25-metre penalty from Alexander Zhyravlev, but Fiji claimed the next try when fly half Rokodaini Bativagone took a lovely line off scrum half Taitusi Naituna to ghost through.

The half ended with Fiji still on the attack, No 8 Waqabaca Kotobalavu polishing off another flowing move with a try in the corner to make it 24-3 at the break.

Samuela Newa claimed the first try of the second half, showing good pace and running skills for a prop, and although Russia managed to slow the game down for a while, attempting to keep the ball close to their forwards and drive through the middle, Fiji were soon back on the attack.

Mawi made a terrific 30-metre break to take play to within the shadow of the posts and then slipped a beautifully timed inside pass to Ilikena Bolakoro for a converted try.

Fiji also had the final word when Bativagone drifted through a gap in the Russian defence from close range for another converted try.

Uruguay 18-37 Italy

Italy continued their impressive run of form with an inspiring win over Uruguay in their Division B encounter at Dubai Exiles RFC.

Having scored 107 points against Chinese Taipei in their last match, the Italians showed once again that they are back on track after their opening 38-30 defeat by Fiji.

A strong first half set the foundations for the win with tries by scrum half Michael Wilson and hooker Nicola Gatto, together with 13 points from the boot of No 8 Davide Duca, giving Italy a 23-8 lead at half-time.

The courageous Uruguayans never stopped battling though and threatened to pull themselves back into the game in the opening 10 minutes of the second half with relentless attacks on the Italian line.

They were repaid for their efforts when Alberico Passadore converted a 20th minute penalty in front of the posts, but Italy enhanced their grip on the match eight minutes later when quick hands allowed replacement Emanuele Borboni to crash over untouched.

Scrum half Passadore was the hero for Uruguay, scoring all of their points, including two impressive solo tries, one in each half. His second try was just as impressive as his first, but an injury time yellow card for Gonzalo Campomar ended any hopes of a comeback.

Italy made the most of their man advantage to score a try through Duca, who after a standout performance ended the night with a personal haul of 22 points.

Chile 6-14 Namibia

Namibia claimed a close 14-6 victory against a buoyant Chile side at Sharjah Wanderers.

In the opening stages of the tie, Namibia took the game to the South Americans, combining the kick and chase tactic, with some flowing passing moves, but they failed to find any flaws in the Chile defence. IN fact it was Chile who took the lead on eight minutes with a penalty kick from Benjamin Omegna.

A stubborn Namibia defence prevented the score running away from them, by astutely defending their try line from the Chile forward pack. A minute before half time, the Africans found the breakthrough they needed. Powerful and evasive running from lock Jasper Van Dyk, who was tackled just before the try line, set up scrum half Keeane Wellmann to dive over. This made for a tense second half with the score set at 7-3.

With only three minutes on the clock, a second penalty kick from Omegna closed the gap to one point. 60 second later, however, Namibia had stretched their lead. The Van Dyk and Wellmann partnership produced another try in similar fashion to that of the first, with Van Dyk skipping through challenges before offloading to Wellmann to stretch the lead after the conversion to 14-6.

Few opportunities were to be found as the game continued with Namibia holding on for their first victory at this year’s tournamwent with a 14-6 score line.

Chinese Taipei 17-17 USA

A second-half transformation saw the USA produce two glorious tries to turn a 10-3 deficit into a 17-10 lead, but the burst of flair was short-lived and in the end it was Chinese Taipei who were pressing for the winning score.

A draw was a fair result, with both sides gamely battling away to assert superiority.

Chinese Taipei were good value for their 10-3 half-time lead, the points coming from a try by flanker Shih-Ming Wu after 32 minutes, converted by fly half Wei-Fan Lu, and an earlier penalty by Lu.

Fly half Chris Lind replied with a 17-minute penalty for the USA.

But the Americans suddenly came to life in the second half, with well-executed tries from Lind and centre Drew West.

The first began just outside the USA’s 22-metre line, and a series of finely-judged passes saw West go clear to touch down with ease. Lind added the extras and three minutes later, a similar intricate passing movement culminated in a try of his own.

After Lind’s conversion, the USA seemed set to press home the advantage, but Chinese Taipei unsettled the briefly-found rhythm and levelled the scoring with a bull-dozing try from scrum half Shu-Shian Pan, converted by Lu.

With eight minutes left, play switched from end to end in search of a decider and although Chinese Taipei did most of the work, they were unable to find the clincher and the final score stayed unchanged at 17-17.

Georgia 9-16 Tonga

Stoppage time points gave Tonga a last-gasp win after trailing all the way from the kick-off in this match at Sharjah Wanderers.

Right on the stroke of full-time, sustained pressure on the Georgia try-line produced a penalty below the posts and fly half Samisioni Fisilau made no mistake to edge his side into an 11-9 lead.

With stoppage time ticking away, that looked set to be the final result until Tonga stretched their lead with a try in virtually the final movement of the game.

Replacement No 8 Semise Manuopangai had come on the field only a couple of minutes earlier and capped his brief appearance with a charge across the try-line. Fisilau missed the conversion, but by then the outcome was academic.   

Georgia had clung on to a slender lead for so long, only to be denied at the death and left to rue missing two very kickable first-half penalties.

The Georgians started at a storming pace, pinning Tonga in their own 22-metre area for most of the first half-hour, but with only two penalties from hooker Beka Mekokishvili to show for all their efforts.

The Tongans mopped up the pressure and responded with a penalty of their own by Fisilau on the 25-minute mark, only for Mekokishvili to restore Georgia’s six point advantage with another penalty kick just before half-time.

Georgia began the second half where they left off, but it was the Tongans who were first to score, captain and No 8 Paula Havea leading from the front to break the Georgian defence for the first try of the match.

Fisilau missed the conversion and the score stayed at 9-8 for Georgia until Tonga’s late flurry swung the result the other way.

Canada 86-0 Korea

First half tries from twins Eugene and Alex Lavrinenko helped put Canada on the way to a comfortable win over Korea at the Dubai Exiles.

Eugene put the family on the scoresheet in the 24th minute, the back row forward being driven over the line after a five-metre scrum.

And Alex, clearly not wanting to be left out, combined well with No 8 and captain Ben Jones just five minutes later for his score.

Canada were good value for their win, utilising their superior upper body strength and technical skills. But Korea battled bravely on the back foot and never gave in as they slipped to their third successive defeat.

Both sides missed early penalty attempts before Canada opened the scoring in the ninth minute, Jones muscling over in the right corner.

And his side went further clear in the 20th minute when flanker Ben Johnson’s powerful approach work opened the way for winger Jack Durling to speed away for his fourth competition try in three games.

After the burst of the Lavrinenko twins, Andrew Buxton-Forman sliced his way through some tired tackling for a solo try he also converted.

And Canada’s sixth try of the half came from winger Matt O’Leary from a line out move to make it 36-0 at the turnaround.

Canada maintained their momentum with Alex Lavrinenko being driven over by his pack early in the second period while replacement Tyler Daly then got in on the act.

But Korea, with gutsy scrum-half Jin Woo Jang prominent, then enjoyed their best period of the match, hammering away in the Canada 22 for a prolonged spell.

But they failed to cross the line and Canada forged further ahead with a second try from O’Leary while full back Matt Evans then scored from long range.

O’Leary then completed his hat-trick before centre Ben Grant and Daly touched down with O’Leary’s fourth try wrapping it up.