JWC: Consolation prize for Kiwis

Hosts New Zealand earned a consolation prize, the bronze medal, at the 2014 IRB Junior World Championship in Auckland on Friday.

The young Kiwis were made to work hard and came from behind against a very strong Ireland side to eventually win 45-23 in the third-place play-off.

After trailing 21-23 at half time, the New Zealand backs showed their class running in four second half tries and keeping Ireland scoreless.

In other play-off matches Australia finished fifth by beating France 34-27, Wales finished seventh by winning 20-3 against Samoa, Argentina ended ninth with a 41-21 over Scotland and Fiji was relegated to the Junior World Trophy section when they lost 17-22 Italy in the 11th-place match.

Final standings

1. England

2. South Africa

3. New Zealand

4. Ireland

5. Australia

6. France

7. Wales

8. Samoa

9. Argentina

10. Scotland

11. Italy

12. Fiji – relegated to IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy

Third-place play-off:

Ireland 23-45 New Zealand

The pre-match prediction may have been for hosts New Zealand to run up a big score in the third place play-off against Ireland, but no-one had clearly told the men in green who went in at half-time with a deserved 23-21 advantage.

IRB Junior Player of the Year nominee Tevita had scored two and created one for Richard Mo'unga in the first half, only for a penalty try and another from prop Oisin Heffernan to edge the Irish ahead to the surprise of the Eden Park crowd.

Ireland continued to frustrate their hosts in the second half but New Zealand's persistent pressure was rewarded when second row James Tucker touched down after 50 minutes. Some slick passing from the backs then saw Mitchell Drummond and Mo'unga over to pull clear on the scoreboard.

Not to be outdone flank Lachlan Boshier than popped up on the wing to finish off another slick handling move in the corner and scored the final points of New Zealand's JWC 2014 campaign on home soil.

The scorers:

For Ireland:

Tries: Penalty try, Heffernan

Cons: Byrne 2

Pens: Byrne 3

For New Zealand:

Tries: Li 2, Mo'unga, Tucker, Drummond, Mo'unga, Boshier

Cons: McKenzie 5

Teams:

Ireland U20: 15 Cian Kelleher, 14 Ciaran Gaffney, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Harrison Brewer, 11 Alex Wootton, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Nick McCarthy, 8 Frank Taggart, 7 Rory Moloney, 6 Peadar Timmins (captain), 5 Ross Molony, 4 Darragh Moloney, 3 Oisin Heffernan, 2 Dylan Donnellan, 1 Peter Dooley.

Replacements: 16 Max Abbott, 17 Denis Coulson, 18 Rory Burke, 19 Stephen Gardiner, 20 Josh Murphy, 21 Ryan Foley, 22 Conor McKeon, 23 Dan Goggin.

New Zealand U20: 15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Vincent Tavae-Aso, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown (captain), 12 TJ Faiane, 11 Tevita Li, 10 Richard Mo'unga, 9 Mitchell Drummond, 8 Matt Peni, 7 Lachlan Boshier, 6 Tom Sanders, 5 Geoffrey Cridge, 4 James Tucker, 3 Tau Koloamatangi, 2 Hame Faiva, 1 Atunaisa Moli.

Replacements: 16 James O'Reilly, 17 Scott Mellow, 18 Tim Cadwallader, 19 Troy Callander, 20 Kyle Harris, 21 Josh Renton, 22 Kaveinga Finau, 23 David Kaetau Havili.

Referee: Alexandre Ruiz (France)

Fifth place play-off:

Australia 34-27 France

France came out of the blocks in lightning quick fashion with Lucas Blanc touching down inside the opening minute and that lead quickly grew to 17-0 after fellow wing Kylan Hamdaoui touched down and Baptiste Serin converted both from out wide and added a penalty.

But just as France were threatening to overwhelm Australia their captain Sean McMahon stepped up with two tries in quick succession, shrugging off five defenders for his first and the second an effort from closer range. However, an intercept by Xavier Mignot saw him run in from near halfway made it 24-14 to France at half-time.

Andrew Kellaway scored the first points of the second half with his ninth try of JWC 2014 to set a new record for the most tries in a single tournament. A drop goal from Brandon Fajardo improved France's advantage, but Kellaway crossed again to equal the overall JWC try record.

Australia continued to exert pressure on France and, after Jack Payne knocked on a loose ball with the line within reach, they got the try that put them ahead for the first time in the match, hooker Harry Scoble powering over after a number of pick and goes.

The scorers:

For Australia:

Tries: McMahon 2, Kellaway 2, Scoble

Cons: McIntyre 3

Pen: Burton

For France:

Tries: Blanc, Hamdaoui, Mignot

Cons: Serin 3

Pen: Serin

DG: Fajardo

Teams:

Australia U20: 15 Jonah Placid, 14 Brad Lacey, 13 Lalakai Foketi, 12 Jimmy Stewart, 11 Andrew Kellaway, 10 Jake McIntyre, 9 Angus Pulver, 8 Ross Haylett-Petty, 7 Jack Dempsey, 6 Sean McMahon (captain), 5 Jack Payne, 4 Tom Staniforth, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 Harry Scoble, 1 Rory O'Connor.

Replacements: 16 Tevita Vea, 17 Cameron Orr, 18 Tom Robertson, 19 Matt Philip, 20 Rowan Perry, 21 Joe Powell, 22 David Horwitz, 23 Luke Burton.

France U20: 15 Pierre Justes, 14 Kylan Hamdaoui, 13 Xavier Mignot, 12 Francois Bouvier, 11 Lucas Blanc, 10 Brandon Fajardo, 9 Baptiste Serin, 8 Francois Cros (captain), 7 Yacouba Camara, 6 Jean-Blaise Lespinasse, 5 Jean Baptiste Singer, 4 Arthur Iturria, 3 Tommy Raynaud, 2 Romain Ruffenach, 1 Oleg Ishchenko.

Replacments: 16 Camille Chat, 17 Youssef Amrouni, 18 Simon Courcoul, 19 Felix Lambey, 20 Jean Thomas, 21 Thibault Daubagna, 22 Francois Fontaine, 23 Arthur Bonneval.

Referee: Federico Anselmi (Argentina)

Seventh place play-off:

Wales 20-3 Samoa

Wales coach Byron Hayward had said before kick-off he wanted his team to "finish off on a real positive" and there got the early try they sought after only six minutes through fullback Dafydd Howells.

William Talataina Mu's penalty kept Samoa in the hunt in the first half, which ended with Wales leading 13-3 after another try from No.8 James Benjamin, who had been drafted into the starting line-up after an injury to Ben Roach in training on Thursday.

The score remained that way until after the hour mark. Samoa had Ieremia Mataena sin-binned and Wales pounced with Benjamin claiming his second try of the match to make certain of seventh place for the 2013 runners-up.

The scorers:

For Wales:

Tries: Howells, Benjamin 2

Con: Davies

Pen: Davies

For Samoa:

Pen: Talataina Mu

Teams:

Wales U20: 15 Dafydd Howells, 14 Tyler Morgan, 13 Steffan Hughes (captain), 12 Jack Dixon, 11 Ashley Evans, 10 Ethan Davies, 9 Tom Williams, 8 Ben Roach, 7 Will Boyde, 6 Olly Cracknell, 5 Rory Thornton, 4 Joe Davies, 3 Nicky Thomas, 2 Scott Otten, 1 Nicky Smith.

Replacements: 16 Ethan Lewis, 17 Luke Garrett, 18 Callum Lewis, 19 Scott Andrews, 20 Scott Matthews, 21 James Benjamin, 22 Luc Jones, 23 Angus O'Brien, 24 Harri Evans.

Samoa U20: 15 Luteru Laulala, 14 Harry Luteru, 13 Joseph Ikenasio, 12 Nathaniel Apa, 11 Nu'u Nu'u, 10 William Talataina Mu, 9 Emil Pittman, 8 Sootala Fa'aso'o, 7 Richard Mariota, 6 Giovanni Habel Kueffner, 5 Cameron Skelton, 4 Jotham Wrampling, 3 Etimani Sului (captain), 2 Ieremia Mataena, 1 Fereti Saaga.

Replacments: 16 Iafeta Luamanu, 17 Andrew Lemalu, 18 Louis Kapeteni, 19 Ezra Meleisea, 20 Joe Lee, 21 Mark Talaese, 22 Penaia Penaia, 23 Aukuso Tuitama.

Referee: Akihisa Aso (Japan)

Ninth place play-off

Argentina 41-21 Scotland

Argentina looked to be in control of the match at half-time after racing into a 23-0 lead after 34 minutes with tries from forwards Tomas Lezana and Santiago Montagner. However, Scotland grabbed a try back before the break through No.8 Magnus Bradbury.

Scotland continued their recovery after the break with Shaun MacDonald and, after another Fernandez penalty, Gavin Lowe converted his own try to cut the deficit to 26-21 and the unlikely comeback seemed to be within touching distance for the Celts.

It wasn't to be though as Fernandez intercepted in his own 22 and raced away to score. That killed off any Scottish hopes and instead it was Argentina who finished with a flourish, Fernandez finishing with 26 points to return to the top of the all-time JWC point scoring table despite not converting Emiliano Boffelli's late try.

The scorers:

For Argentina:

Tries: Lezana, Montagner, Fernandez, Boffelli

Cons: Fernandez 3

Pens: Fernandez 5

For Scotland:

Tries: Bradbury, MacDonald, Lowe

Cons: Hutchinson 2, Lowe

Teams:

Argentina U20: 15 Emiliano Boffelli, 14 German Schulz, 13 Bautista Ezcurra, 12 Tomas Granella, 11 Rodrigo Etchart, 10 Patricio Fernandez (captain), 9 Juan Bernardini, 8 Santiago Montagner, 7 Lautaro Bavaro, 6 Tomas Lezana, 5 Ignacio Calas, 4 Guido Peti Pagadizabal, 3 Tomas Ramirez, 2 Juan Ignacio Sanchez, 1 Facundo Gigena.

Replacments: 16 Ignacio David Calles, 17 Ariel Del Cerro, 18 Felipe Arregui, 19 Vittorio Tomas Rosti, 20 Jose Deheza, 21 Lautaro Bazan Velez, 22 Domingo Miotti, 23 Joaquin Riera.

Scotland U20: 15 Gavin Lowe, 14 Jamie Farndale, 13 Chris Dean, 12 Blair Hutchison, 11 Damien Hoyland, 10 Rory Hutchinson, 9 Alex Glashan, 8 Magnus Bradbury, 7 Tommy Spinks, 6 Neil Irvine-Hess, 5 Lewis Carmichael, 4 Andy Cramond, 3 D'Arcy Rae, 2 James Malcolm, 1 Phil Cringle.

Replacements: 16 James Malcolm, 17 Jack Cosgrove, 18 Zander Fagerson, 19 Jamie Ritchie, 20 Shaun MacDonald, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Gavin Parker, 23 Sam Pecqueur.

Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)

11th Place play-off

Fiji 17-22 Italy

Fiji's fate was already sealed regardless of the result against Italy and will play in the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy next year, but the Azzurini were determined to ensure they retained their place at JWC 2015 by right and not just as the host nation.

Scrumhalf Simone Parisotto darted over for Italy's first try after 15 minutes and No.8 Matteo Cornelli added another after a strong Italian scrum to ensure his side went in with a 12-3 advantage, Fiji's only answer a penalty from Dion Fraser.

Fiji started the second half the brighter and scored their only try when Josese Kurukava intercepted and ran 70 metres to dot down. Italy hit back with tries from Adriano Daniele and Gabriele Di Giulio, but could have wrapped the  match up earlier had they not been wasteful with scoring opportunities.

The Fijians bid farewell to the Junior World Championship stage though with the final try of the match at QBE Stadium through their impressive flank Vasikali Mudu. They will now look to win the Trophy next year to secure an immediate return to the elite tier.

The scorers:

For Fiji:

Tries: Kurukava, Mudu

Cons: Fraser, Vueti

Pen: Fraser

Teams:

Fiji U20: 15 Livinai Tuicakau, 14 Adrea Cocagi (captain), 13 Poasa Waqanibau, 12 Josese Kurukava, 11 Orisi Nawaqaliva, 10 Dion Fraser, 9 Leone Nawai, 8 Marika Tokalauvere, 7 Vasikali Mudu, 6 Ameniasi Natuiyaga, 5 Simione Naiduki, 4 Lote Nasiga, 3 Apolosi Ranawai, 2 Wilisoni Lagi, 1 Jack Dreunimolea.

Replacments: 16 Semi Tuikoroalau Wakolo, 17 Samuela Tawake, 18 Aseri Robarobalevu, 19 Paula Bukavece, 20 Atonio Qio, 21 Marika Tivitivi, 22 Elia Mroisio, 23 Tubuka Vueti.

Italy: 15 Giacomo De Santis, 14 Daniele Di Giulio, 13 Mattia Bellini, 12 Matteo Gabbianelli, 11 Gabriele Di Giulio, 10 Filippo Buscema (captain), 9 Simone Parisotto, 8 Matteo Cornelli, 7 Renato Giammarioli, 6 Marco Lazzaroni, 5 Andrea Trotta, 4 Riccardo Michieletto, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Adriano Daniele, 1 Derrick Appiah.

Replacments: 16 Francesco Vento, 17 Paolo Buonfiglio, 18 Cherif Traore, 19 Matteo Archetti, 20 Federico Ruzza, 21 Maicol Azzolini, 22 Samuel Seno, 23 Matteo Gasparini.

Referee: Vlad Iordachescu (Romania)