Baby Boks fall ... like big brothers

Ireland scored two massive firsts – their Under-20 team recording a first-ever win over New Zealand U20, on the same day that the Irish senior team won for the first time on South African soil.

And as if the Springboks' first-ever home loss to the Irish was not enough, Argentina U20 rubbed salt into the already festering SA wounds by beating the Baby Boks for the first time ever at the Junior World Cup.

England was the only first-placed team to ensure their top spot with a win.

South Africa U20 and New Zealand U20 – having both endured losses – are now in a desperate race to qualify for the semifinals.

England put on a sturdy performance retaining their top spot in the group with a 44-0 win over, Scotland which also makes them the team with the most points after Round Two.

The South African and New Zealand youngsters both failed to exert their dominance over the rest of their respective groups, after winning starts to the tournament.

As a result they dropped down to second place in their pools and are now in a battle for survival – with one round of pool matches remaining.

The Baby Boks lost 13-19 to Los Pumitas and New Zealand went down 24-33 to Italy.

We look at all the Round Two action at the Unbder2-0 World Cup!

NEW ZEALAND 24-33 IRELAND

Ireland delivered a seismic shock by beating defending champions New Zealand 33-24 with a performance full of passion and commitment at Manchester City Academy Stadium.

The loss was only New Zealand's seventh since the U20 Championship began back in 2008 and ranks alongside the shock value of Wales handing the then four-time defending champions their first-ever loss in the 2012 pool stages.

Ireland have now beaten the Six Nations Grand Slam winners and world champions in the space of five days and need only victory against Georgia to book their place in the semi-finals as Pool A winners.

Flyhalf Bill Johnston kicked Ireland into an early 3-0 lead but centre Jordie Barrett crashed over for New Zealand's opening try in the seventh minute, picking up where he had left off in the first half against Georgia.

Johnston added a second penalty but the Irish then lost hooker Adam McBurney to the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-on, the Kiwis missing a penalty in his absence before Shaun Stevenson gathered his own kick ahead to dot down.

The yellow card looked costly until an Ireland driving maul left New Zealand with no answer as flanker Greg Jones came off the back to score and McBurney then atoned for his yellow card with an almost identical try in the 34th minute.

Ireland trailed only 14-13 at the break but had lost Johnston to an apparent dislocated shoulder – the injury that kept him out of the Six Nations – but his replacement Johnny McPhillips kicked them ahead early in the second half.

Winger Malo Tuitama restored New Zealand's advantage with just under 30 minutes to go, but Ireland were not to be outdone and continued to pile the pressure on their opponents, forcing error after error.

As the clock ticked into the final minutes, Ireland's maul created another try, this time number eight Max Deegan the one to peel off the back to touch down, with McPhillips' conversion meaning New Zealand had to score two tries.

They got one almost immediately through Tuitama and Ireland seemed set for another tense finale, but they held firm and when McPhillips added another penalty two minutes from time their historic win was assured.

Ireland try-scorer Deegan: "It's the stuff of dreams, the moments you dream about in games where you have to score, you need to score, and to do that is honestly unbelievable. I can't put it into words what it means, luckily enough I was able to pick up and went over.

"It's something special [to beat Wales and New Zealand back to back], in camp we knew we had it in us and were building well. There is a buzz in the camp and that is going to continue, but we have to take a step back now and focus on Georgia."

New Zealand coach Scott Robertson: "They made it difficult for us and we made it difficult for ourselves. We didn't play the conditions very well and we played a team who plays for penalties. And perhaps we let them do that. Credit to Ireland, they deserved it. I think it's the first time they've beaten a New Zealand team at this level so well done to them."

The scorers:

For New Zealand

Tries: Tuitama 2, Barrett, Stevenson

Con: Barrett

Pen: Barrett

For Ireland

Tries: Jones, McBurney, Deegan,

Cons: Johnston 2, McPhillips

Pens: Johnston 2, McPhillips 2

Teams:

New Zealand: 15 Jordan Trainor, 14 Shaun Stevenson, 13 Patelesio Tomkinson, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Malo Tuitama, 10 Stephen Perofeta, 9 Sam Nock, 8 Marino Mikaele-Tu'u, 7 Mitchell Jacobson, 6 Luke Jacobson, 5 Isaia Walker-Leawere, 4 Quinten Strange, 3 Sosefo Kautai, 2 Leni Apisai (captain), 1 Ayden Johnstone.

Replacements: 16 Asafo Aumua, 17 Sean Paranihi, 18 Alex Fidow, 19 Hamish Dalzell, 20 Dalton Papali'I, 21 Jonathan Taumateine, 22 TJ Va'a, 23 Jonah Lowe.

Ireland: 15 Jacob Stockdale, 14 Matthew Byrne, 13 Shane Daly, 12 Conor O'Brien, 11 Hugo Keenan, 10 Bill Johnston, 9 Stephen Kerins, 8 Max Deegan, 7 David Aspil, 6 Greg Jones, 5 James Ryan (captain), 4 Cillian Gallagher, 3 Ben Betts, 2 Adam McBurney, 1 Andrew Porter.

Replacements: 16 Vincent O'Brien, 17 James Bollard, 18 Vakh Abdaladze, 19 Sean O'Connor, 20 Kelvin Brown, 21 Niall Saunders, 22 Johnny McPhillips, 23 Jimmy O'Brien.

Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys (England)

Assistant referees: Elia Rizzo (Italy), Paul Dix (England)

TMO: Jon Mason (Wales)

WALES 10-9 GEORGIA

Wales were desperate to bounce back to winning ways at the Manchester City Academy Stadium after their opening loss to Ireland, but in the end were fortunate to escape with a 10-9 victory against Georgia.

The Six Nations champions made the perfect start when prop Leon Brown had the strength to touch down from close range in the fourth minute, but if their fans were hoping for a try-fest then they were left disappointed.

Georgia, beaten 55-0 by New Zealand on day one, relished the wet conditions on a day when rain fell for long periods in Manchester, their forwards enjoying dominance at front in an area of the game the nation is known for.

Scrumhalf Gela Aprasidze missed his first kick at goal just after the half hour, but made amends within minutes to score Georgia's first-ever points in the U20 Championship.

Aprasidze, given the nod in place of RWC 2015 veteran Vasil Lobzhanidze, kicked a second penalty at the end of the first half to send last year's U20 Trophy champions in just one point adrift at 7-6.

The score remained that way until fly-half Jarrod Evans kicked a penalty in the 54th-minute, but Wales still couldn't shake off the Georgians who were relishing the battle up front and starting to create a few opportunities with ball in hand.   

Once again they closed to within a point with Aprasidze's third penalty with 13 minutes to go and the prospect of the sell-out crowd seeing a second upset – one arguably bigger than Ireland's win given Georgia's inexperience at this level – was increasing.

Replacement Daniel Jones, only called into the squad after starting winger Keelan Giles was given a ticket to join up with the senior squad in New Zealand, missed his first kick at goal and it nearly proved costly for Wales.

Fortunately for them, Aprasidze's penalty with five minutes to go from the halfway dropped agonizingly short and they were able to send the clock into the red as Jones lined up another kick at goal, one he missed again.

Georgia coach Ilia Maisuradze: "We worked on our defence, getting up quickly and making effective tackles. We reduced the number of players in the breakdown and brought more players into the defence. We played with the conditions, with a big heart and in this game we needed for our morale. In terms of our attacking play we can improve going forward and will aim to before our next match, but we needed to improve from the first match and we did that. We needed this for the fans in Georgia, and for our confidence.

"The problem in the first game was we didn't get enough time to prepare together as a team. A lot of the guys play in France so they joined in the last two weeks, and some even just last week. A lot of players didn't play in the warm up games but that said, against New Zealand we did show moments of how we wanted to play and also today."

Scorers:

For: Wales

Try: Brown

Con: Evans

Pen: Evans

For: Georgia

Pens: Modzgvrishvili 3

Teams:

Wales: 15 Rhun Williams, 14 Tom Williams, 13 Joe Thomas, 12 Billy McBryde, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Jarrod Evans, 9 Declan Smith, 8 Harrison Keddie, 7 Josh Macleod, 6 Tom Phillips (captain), 5 Seb Davies 4 Shane Lewis-Hughes, 3 Leon Brown, 2 Liam Belcher, 1 Rhys Fawcett.

Replacements: 16 Dafydd Hughes, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Morgan Sieniawski, 20 Jared Rosser, 21 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 22 Kieran Williams, 23 Joe Gage.

Georgia: 15 Miriani Modebadze, 14 Lado Miminoshvili, 13 Giorgi Koshadze, 12 Giorgi Kveseladze, 11 Sandro Merkvilishvili, 10 Davit Modzgvrishvili, 9 Gela Aprasidze, 8 Beka Gorgadze (captain), 7 Giorgi Tsutskiridze, 6 Ilia Spanderashvili, 5 Otari Giorgadze, 4 Demur Epremidze, 3 Lasha Tabidze, 2 Giga Khuroshvili, 1 Tornike Mataradze.

Replacements: 16 Luka Goginava, 17 Nika Neparidze, 18 Giorgi Melikidze, 19 Mikheil Babunashvili, 20 Irakli Tskhadadze, 21 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 22 Sandro Iluridze, 23 Rati Shanidze.

Referee: Graham Cooper (Australia)

Assistant referees: Tom Foley (England), Matthew O'Grady (England)

TMO: Keith Lewis (England)

AUSTRALIA 38-10 ITALY

Australia overcame an error-strewn first-half performance and a 10-7 half-time deficit to register a bonus-point win over Italy at the AJ Bell Stadium and give themselves an outside chance of making the semifinals.

Mack Mason crossed for the last of Australia's five tries and kicked 11 points as Adrian Thompson's side scored 31 unanswered points after the break.

Second best in the scrum and line-out and struggling to control the wet ball when they did have possession, Australia found it hard to get any rhythm into their game in the early stages and they fell behind when Azzurrini fly-half Leonardo Mantelli kicked a 10th-minute penalty.

Italy then clinically exploited Australian hesitation under the high ball to score a well-taken try on 27 minutes. Second-row Samuele Ortis regained possession and surged forward before offloading to Marco Zanon, the inside centre was brought to ground a few metres short but had the presence of mind and the skill to pop the ball up to supporting full-back Matteo Minozzi.

Australia got a foothold in the game when winger Simon Kennewell strolled over just after the half-hour mark following a series of pick-and-goes from the forwards created space out wide. Mason converted and then added a penalty shortly after the restart to draw Australia level.

From then on there was only really one team in it, Australia using their bench to good effect and mastering the wet conditions far better to score four unconverted tries without reply.

Replacement Lukhan Lealaiaulolo-Tui and winger Liam Jurd dotted down from close range before a crowd-pleasing 50-metre run from replacement prop Shambeckler Vui, which saw him bump off three would-be tacklers, resulted in the bonus point try for Australia. With the clock in the red, Mason capped a fine personal display when he jinxed over from 20 metres out.

Australia coach Adrian Thompson: "We thought the Italians played really well in that first half. They're a young team who are building to next year and competed well through the Six Nations and really brought it to us. I think our boys realised the importance of the game and were a bit nervous."

Australia try scorer Mason: "The start was a bit scrappy, down to the conditions a bit, but once we got into the game in the second half we really stuck it to them and got it done, but the Italians really stuck it to us in the first half. We were obviously massively disappointed [against Scotland] and it's a long way to come from Australia to Manchester to lose, but everyone put it behind them and moved on and we got the win today."

The scorers:

For Australia:

Tries: Kennewell, Leota, Jurd, Vui, Mason

Cons: Mason 5

Pen: Mason

For Italy

Try: Minozzi

Con: Mantelli

Pen: Mantelli

Teams:

Australia: 15 Jack Maddocks, 14 Simon Kennewell, 13 Sione Tuipulotu, 12 Nick Jooste, 11 Liam McNamara, 10 Mack Mason, 9 James Tuttle, 8 Maclean Jones, 7 Liam Wright, 6 Angus Scott-Young, 5 Izack Rodda, 4 Ryan McCauley, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Jordan Uelese, 1 Vunipola Fifita.

Replacements: 16 Josh Taylor, 17 Richie Asiata, 18 Shambeckler Vui, 19 Lukhan Tui, 20 Rob Leota, 21 Harry Nucifora, 22 Jordan Jackson-Hope, 23 Liam Jurd.

Italy: 15 Matteo Minozzi, 14 Pierre Bruno, 13 Roberto dal Zilio, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Lorenzo Masato, 10 Leonardo Mantelli, 9 Charly Trussardi, 8 Giovanni Pettinelli, 7 Davide Ciotoli, 6 Lorenzo Robin Masselli, 5 Gabrielle Vendetti, 4 Samuel Ortis, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Marco Manfredi, 1 Daniele Rimpelli.

Replacements: 16 Damiano Borean, 17 Niccolò Broglia, 18 Engjel Makelara, 19 Davide Fragnito, 20 Giovanni Licata, 21 Riccardo Raffaele, 22 Andrea Bronzini, 23 Luca Sperandio.

Referee: Cwengile Jadezweni (South Africa)

Assistant referees: Thomas Charabas (France), Greg MacDonald (England)

TMO: Geoff Warren (England)

ENGLAND 44-0 SCOTLAND

Hosts England had been outclassed by Scotland in the Six Nations in February, but it was a role reversal at the Manchester City Academy Stadium as to the delight of the home contingent in the crowd they ran in five tries for a convincing victory.

Scotland simply had no answer to the England pack's power in the first half, conceding three penalties in seven minutes in the first quarter with flyhalf Harry Mallinder kicking two of them. The Northampton Saint also added the conversion when captain Jack Walker dropped on the ball as the England driving maul splintered the Scottish defence with easy in the 22nd minute.

That would prove to be the final score of the first half, although Scotland could have been on the scoreboard had Blair Kinghorn, who switched to flyhalf to cover Adam Hastings after he took a knock in the win over Australia, not missed two penalties in the first eight minutes.

The second half burst into life with two tries in as many minutes for England. First, in the 54th minute, Darren Atkins raced down the wing and flanker Will Evans was able to slide over, the TMO ruling he had just avoided the touchline. Then Sam Aspland-Robinson scythed through the defence and sent John Williams over for England's third try.

The bonus point try came courtesy of replacement hooker Jack Singleton after Scotland were unable to cope with another driving maul with four minutes to go and there was still time for fellow replacement Max Malins to charge through a tiring defence to put the gloss on the win.

England coach Martin Haag: "We are happy enough, but there are some things to work on. The number of times we went into the opposition 22 and for ill-discipline, or whatever reason, didn't convert. However we are really pleased to get the win and the way we finished the game I thought was superb, attacking from our own line I thought was excellent. We just need a bit more precision at times but that's something we can work on."

The scorers:

For England:

Tries: Walker, Evans, Williams, Singleton, Malins

Cons: Mallinder 5

Pens: Mallinder 3

For Scotland:

None

Teams:

England: 15 Darren Atkins, 14 Sam Aspland-Robinson, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Matt Gallagher, 10 Harry Mallinder, 9 Max Green, 8 Callum Chick, 7 Will Evans, 6 George Nott, 5 Huw Taylor, 4 Stan South, 3 Billy Walker, 2 Jack Walker (captain), 1 Tom West.

Replacements: 16 Jack Singleton, 17 Lewis Boyce, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Andrew Kitchener, 20 Zach Mercer, 21 Harry Randall, 22 Max Malins, 23 Ollie Thorley.

Scotland: 15 Ben Robbins, 14 Robibe Nairn, 13 George Taylor, 12 Tom Galbraith, 11 Cameron Gray, 10 Blair Kinghorn, 9 Hugh Fraser, 8 Ally Miller, 7 Jamie Ritchie, 6 Scott Burnside, 5 Scott Cummings (captain), 4 Callum Hunter-Hill, 3 Callum Sheldon, 2 Jake Kerr, 1 Dan Elkington.

Replacements: 16 Lewis Anderson, 17 George Thornton, 18 Murray McCullum, 19 Andrew Davidson, 20 Matt Smith, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Matt McPhillips, 23 Reuben Norville.

Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)

Assistant referees: Elia Rizzo (Italy), Paul Dix (England)

TMO: Jon Mason (Wales)

FRANCE 46-14 JAPAN

France, inspired by the silky running skills of centre Damian Penaud, powered their way to an impressive seven-try victory against Japan at the AJ Bell Stadium.

Penaud scored a try and set up several others in a man-of-the-match display that helped Les Bleuets register their first win of the 2016 edition of the U20 Championship in Manchester.

It was Japan, however, who took the lead after seven minutes when winger Ren Takano scythed through the French defence.

Anthony Belleau pulled three points back for France before Les Bleuets grabbed their first try of the game through hooker Peato Mauvaka. Scrum-half Baptiste Couilloud added another a minute later after a good break by second-row Mathieu Tanguy, one of only two players to remain in the starting line-up from the opening loss to Argentina.

Clermont Auvergne player Penaud, son of former French international Alain, deservedly got on the scoreboard himself at the start of the second half when he made a lovely outside break and slipped through a couple of tackles.

Japan stopped the rot, temporarily, after test capped number eight Tevita Tatafu drove over from close range but France's response was immediate, replacement scrum-half Antoine Dupont scampering home direct from the restart.

Penaud had a hand in the next two tries as Alexandre Nicoue and then Dupont crossed, and there was still just about enough time left on the clock for replacement back Romain Buros to put the gloss on an impressive performance.

France prop Clement Castets: "It went pretty well. At the beginning it was really hard, but the boys didn't let anything go, we stuck together and I think it was a great performance from us. If we could have scored maybe two more tries it would have been good but we are still happy."

Japan flanker Faulua Makisi: "The result we weren't really happy with, but I'm really proud of the boys as we played with good character today. We don't look down, we look forward to the next game against Argentina. We will work hard on what was missing from this game."

The scorers:

For France:

Tries: Dupont 2, Mauvaka, Couilloud, Penaud, Nicoue, Buros

Cons: Belleau 2, Seguy 2

Pen: Belleau

For Japan:

Tries: Tatafu, Takano

Cons: Moeakiola 2

Yellow card: Faulua Makisi (Japan, 74)

Teams:

France: 15 Guillaume Cazes, 14 Alexandre Nicoue, 13 Damian Penaud, 12 Anthony Belleau, 11 Elliot Roudil, 10 Romuald Seguy, 9 Baptiste Couilloud, 8 Alexandre Roumat, 7 Kevin Kornath, 6 Jean Baptiste Grenod, 5 Mathieu Tanguy, 4 Théo Hannoyer, 3 Emerick Setiano, 2 Péato Mauvaka, 1 Elias el Ansari.

Replacements: 16 Etienne Fourcade, 17 Clément Castets, 18 Michaël Simutoga, 19 Florian Verhaeghe, 20 Anthony Jelonch, 21 Antoine Dupont, 22 Atila Septar, 23 Romain Buros.

Japan: 15 Takuhei Yasuda, 14 Ren Takano, 13 Shintaro Nagatomi, 12 Doga Maeda, 11 Tomoya Yamamura, 10 Ataata Moeakiola, 9 Daiki Nakajima, 8 Tevita Tatafu, 7 Masato Furukawa (captain), 6 Faulua Makisi, 5 Daichi Akiyama, 4 Tatsunari Fujita, 3 Shosuke Tashiro, 2 Yoshiaki Takeuchi, 1 Ryosuke Iwaihara.

Replacements: 16 Ken Saito, 17 Keiichi Kaneko, 18 Taku Toma, 19 Ryo Inoue, 20 Taichi Mano, 21 Naoto Saito, 22 Soki Watanabe, 23 Hiroki Yamada.

Referee: Juan Sylvestre (Argentina)

Assistant referees: Paul Williams (New Zealand), Ian Tempest (England)

TMO: David Sainsbury (England)

SOUTH AFRICA 13-19 ARGENTINA

For the second match day in a row Argentina's players greeted the final whistle with euphoria, leaping into the air in celebration and crying tears of joy after beating South Africa for the first time in U20 Championship history.

Flyhalf Domingo Miotti kicked 14 points as Argentina capitalised on an ill-disciplined performance from South Africa in the final game of the day at the AJ Bell Stadium in Manchester and victory over Japan on Wednesday will see Los Pumitas top Pool C and reach the semifinals for only the second time.

No quarter was asked nor given in a full-on physical encounter that was full of big hits rather than try-scoring opportunities, and it took until the 40th minute before the whitewash was crossed legitimately.

It appeared as though the sides would be locked together at 6-6 at half-time after an exchange of penalties from opposing fly-halves, Curwin Bosch and Miotti, but scrum-half James Hall's yellow card for a tip tackle in midfield proved a game-changer.

Los Pumitas had already had one try chalked off by the TMO by the time Tomas Malanos came off his wing and hit a great line in midfield to finish off a well-executed line-out move on the South African 22. Miotti brought the half to a close with the conversion.

The fly-half nailed his first penalty chance of the second half from halfway to take Argentina's lead into double figures and added another just before the hour mark, shortly after South Africa had been denied a try of their own. Winger Mosolwa Mafuma appeared to win the race to the ball in the in-goal area after a kick ahead but the TMO ruled that it hadn't been grounded properly.

South Africa mauled their way over the line in the 64th minute and loose-head prop Franco van den Berg came up with the ball, Bosch adding the conversion to make it a six-point ball game between the two unbeaten sides in Pool C.

Suddenly the momentum was with South Africa but their chances of a comeback win were seriously hampered when openside flanker Ernst van Rhyn was sent to the sin-bin and Los Pumitas held on to the delight of their vocal band of supporters.

Argentina coach Nicolas Fernandez Lobbe: "I am really happy for the boys for the way they played, which was the way we wanted to. I am happy with the set-piece as we struggled with that against France. Passion is everything with Argentina and it was the difference for us today. Our goal is always the same, whether we win or we lose. I always tell the boys to go out there an play with confidence and pass the ball around. For me that is rugby."

South Africa captain Jeremy Ward: "I think it just comes down to discipline. We played 20 minutes with 14 men and it really cost us today. We're disappointed because we came here to win. But credit to Argentina, they played with passion and made it very hard for us."

The scorers:

For South Africa:

Try: Van den Berg

Con: Bosch

Pens: Bosch 2

For Argentina:

Try: Malanos

Con: Miotti

Pens: Miotti 4

Yellow cards: James Hall (South Africa, 34), Franco van den Berg (South Africa, 69)

Teams:

South Africa: 15 Manie Libbok, 14 Sibusiso Nkosi, 13 Jeremy Ward (captain), 12 Franco Naude, 11 Mosolwa Mafuma, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 James Hall, 8 Junior Pokomela, 7 Ernst van Rhyn, 6 Zain Davids, 5 Eli Snyman, 4 Eduard Zandberg, 3 Carlü Sadie, 2 Tango Balekile, 1 Franco van den Berg.

Replacements: 16 Jan-Henning Campher, 17 Nicolaas Oosthuizen, 18 Jaco Holtzhausen, 19 Ruben de Villiers, 20 Cobus Wiese, 21 Marco Jansen van Vuren, 22 JT Jackson, 23 Edwill van der Merwe.

Argentina: 15 Bautistia Delguy, 14 Tomás Malanos, 13 Juan Cruz Mallía (captain), 12 Santiago Mare, 11 Julián Dominguez, 10 Domingo Miotti, 9 Patricio Baronio, 8 Vicente Boronat, 7 Conrado Roura, 6 Marcos Kremer, 5 Ignacio Calas, 4 Franco Molina, 3 Santiago Medrano, 2 Gasper Baldunciel, 1 Rubén Ricco.

Replacements: 16 Román Pretz, 17 Santiago Pulella, 18 Gonzalo del Pazo, 19 Mariano Romanini, 20 Bautista Stávile, 21 Lautaro Bazán, 22 Teo Castiglioni, 23 José Barros Sosa.

Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)

Assistant referees: Thomas Charabas (France), Greg MacDonald (England)

TMOGeoff Warren (England)

Source: @WorldRugby