Lambie and Homer star in first round

The first round of matches at the IRB Junior World Championship produced some exciting rugby, with 332 points scored overall and some notable individual achievements. Here we give you a wrap of the team and individual highlights from Saturday’s action.

Wales turned round a one point half time deficit to beat Samoa 22-13, only the seventh time in 86 Junior World Championship matches that the team losing at the interval has won the match in normal time. They left it late, scoring 10 points in the last 10 minutes to secure a hard-earned victory.

There were 38 successful penalty kicks in the six matches played on Saturday, representing 34% of the total points scored. This compares with 18% in the last two IRB Junior World Championships.

The match between France and Ireland included 11 converted penalties, which is two more than the previous record set in the Ireland versus Tonga match in 2008. Ireland now features in the top three matches for successful penalty kicks.

Tom Homer of England, Matthew Jarvis of Wales and James Mckinney of Ireland all kicked five penalties, a feat only achieved by two other players in the history of Junior World Championship matches.

The good weather and light winds created ideal conditions for goal-kicking and in addition to the 114 points scored through penalty kicks there was a 71% success rate for conversions, compared to 63% in the last two Junior World Championships.

England’s fullback Tom Homer has moved up to second in the all time points scorer list with 91, which is 14 behind Francois Brummer of South Africa. Wales’ flyhalf Matthew Jarvis is up to third on that list with 72 points.

Patrick Lambie, South Africa’s fullback, scored 25 points against Tonga, which is the joint third highest individual points score in a match in IRB Junior World Championship history behind Pierre Bernard, who scored 33 for France against Wales in 2009.

Australian wing Aidan Toua and England centre Jonny May both scored a hat-trick of tries, against Scotland and Argentina respectively, which is a feat now achieved by 15 players in the history of the competition.

Pool A:

New Zealand 44-11 Fiji

For New Zealand:

Tries: Robertson, Allen, Grice, Polwart, Marshall
Cons: Parker 3, Bleyendaal 2
Pens: Parker 3

For Fiji:

Try: Nasiganiyavi
Pens: Matavesi 2

Wales 22-13 Samoa

For Wales:
 
Try: Beck
Con: Jarvis
Pens: Jarvis 5
 
For Samoa:

Tries: Tualaulelei, Sililoto
Pen: Faleono

Pool B:

Argentina 22-48 England

For Argentina:

Tries: Moyano, Coria, Muedra
Cons: Muedra 2
Pen: Muedra

For England:

Tries: May 3, Rowan, Wade
Cons: Homer 4
Pens: Homer 5

France 25-22 Ireland

For France:

Try: Erbani
Cons: Bosch
Pens: Doussain 4, Bosch 2

For Ireland:

Try: Zebo
Con: McKinney
Pens: McKinney 5

Pool C

Australia 58-13 Scotland

For Australia:

Tries: Morahan, Coleman, Toua 3, Schatz, Faingaa, Jeloudev, Jones
Cons: Toomua 5
Pens: Toomua

For Scotland:

Try: Fife
Con: Weir
Pens: Weir 2

South Africa 40-14 Tonga

For South Africa:

Tries: Mastriet, Stander, Venter, Lambie
Cons: Lambie 4
Pens: Lambie 4

For Tonga:

Try: Moala
Pens: Toloke 3