U20: England v NZ in Final
England will play New Zealand in the Final of the Under-20 World Cup on Saturday, after they both recorded convincing semifinal victories.
They already have six titles between therm.
The two semifinals at the Stadio San Michele in Calvisano could not have been more different.
The two-time defending champions England disposed of South Africa 28-20 in a repeat of last year's Final.
New Zealand, who won the last of their four titles in 2011, were far more convincing in disposing of France 45-7.
It was a dramatic turnaround from the final round of pool matches – where France beat England convincingly and South Africa demolished Australia.
However, the French and South African teams were a far cry from their earlier form, while England and New Zealand stepped up when it mattered most.
England captain Charlie Ewels spoke of the hard work his team put in after their loss to France, while SA skipper Hanro Liebenberg bemoaned the lack of discipline that so dearly cost his team – including two yellow cards, one of those by Liebenberg, for high tackles.
We look at all Monday's action!
Semifinals
New Zealand 45-7 France
Tevita Li bagged three of New Zealand's six tries in a 45-7 flogging of France in the semifinals of the Under-20 World Cup.
New Zealand will contest the Final for the first time in three years, after a scintillating first-half display in Calvisano – having opened up a 31-7 lead at half-time.
Flyhalf Otere Black kicked 15 points in a seven-from-seven return, but the standout performer again was Blues wing Li, who leads the tournament try-scoring standings with seven.
All three of his tries on Monday were from range, highlighting his scorching pace and ability to spot an opportunity.
Li deflected praise to the New Zealand forwards, who stood up to the bigger French pack.
"We knew they had good forwards, they score all their tries from the maul," Li said.
"So we knew we had to stop that and our forwards worked really hard on their analysis so the credit has to go to them really."
The other tries went to Blues teammate Akira Ioane, who was also a dominant figure with his charging runs from No.8, flank James Blackwell and wing Jack Goodhue.
"It feels like a lot of pressure that we have got on us [having not won the title since 2011], but we want to rise to the occasion and we wanted to come out here and put a performance out there that we were really proud off and I think we were proud of," said Li.
"Saturday is a big game, the Final, finals footy you can't get any better than that and that is why we play the game for moments like this."
Scorers:
For New Zealand:
Tries: Li 3, Goodhue, Ioane 2
Cons: Black 6
Pen: Black
For France:
Try: Castets
Con: Ramos
Teams:
New Zealand Under-20: 15 Mitchell Hunt, 14 Jack Goodhue, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Tinoai Faiane, 11 Tevita Li, 10 Otere Black, 9 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 8 Akira Ioane, 7 Blake Gibson, 6 James Blackwell, 5 Hamish Dalzell, 4 Joshua Goodhue, 3 Atunaisa Moli, 2 Liam Polwart, 1 Ricky Riccitelli.
Replacements: 16 Steven Misa, 17 Isileli Tu'ungafasi, 18 Tau Koloamatangi, 19 Mitchell Dunshea, 20 Henry Stowers, 21 Harrison Levien, 22 Vincent Tavae-Aso, 23 George Bridge.
France Under-20: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Alexandre Pilati, 13 Damien Penaud, 12 Elliott Roudil, 11 Lucas Blanc, 10 Lucas Méret, 9 Anthony Méric, 8 Fabien Sanconnie, 7 Lucas Bachelier (captain), 6 Sékou Macalou, 5 Mathieu Tanguy, 4 Tristan Labouteley, 3 Clément Castets, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 Thibault Estorge.
Replacements: 16 Camille Chat, 17 Thierry Pavia, 18 Quentin Bethune, 19 Julien Delannoy, 20 Judicael Cancoriet, 21 Gauthier Doubrère, 22 Thomas Fortunel, 23 Arthur Bonneval.
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
Assistant referees: Matt Carley (England), Local
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
South Africa 20-28 England
England took on the physical South Africans and beat them at their own game – leading 28-6 with less than five minutes to go.
Only two late consolation tries gave the SA Under-20 team's scoreline some respectability.
England dominated the much-vaunted South African set of forwards – earning a number of scrum penalties and also winning the collisions and the breakdown.
Ill-discipline also cost South Africa dearly in the first half. It also did not help the South African cause that they made a number of unforced errors – with knock-ons and missed goal-kicks the most glaring of those blunders.
England's desire and mental fortitude were also far superior to a SA team looking leaderless and clueless on attack.
Decision making was another area where the Bokkies simply did not measure up. The main culprit, as was the case in terms of execution, was flyhalf Brandon Thomson – who looked out of his depth at this level.
The two late consolation tries sore by SA may have had some entertainment value, but the game was long over as a contest and England had clearly taken their foot off the gas.
"We looked at the performance against France and we weren't happy, individuals worked really hard this week and we trained well as a team, and we are far happy with that performance," admitted England captain Charlie Ewels.
"This team didn't win the last two years, the under-20 team is different every year so this team is trying to build it's own legacy."
His counterpart Liebenberg, who will now not lead South Africa to the title like his brother Wiaan did in 2012, said: "Discipline cost us and I think that is what cost us, in the first half we had 20 minutes with 14 guys and that always makes things difficult.
"It was a late comeback but that isn't good enough. You can't only play the last 20 minutes of the game, it's an 80-minute game and I think we will go back this week, come back for the third place play-off and just give it our all to make our country proud."
The scorers:
For South Africa:
Tries: Jaer, Du Plessis
Cons: Thomson 2
Pens: Thomson 2
For England:
Tries: Chisholm, Penalty try, Tompkins
Cons: Jennings 2
Pens: Jennings 3
Yellow cards: Hanro Liebenberg (South Africa, 11 – foul play, high tackle), Jason Jenkins (South Africa, 22 – foul play, high tackle), Nick Tompkins (England, 72 – foul play, high tackle)
Teams:
South Africa Under-20: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Khanyo Ngcukana, 13 EW Viljoen, 12 Daniel du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Brandon Thomson, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Hanro Liebenberg (captain), 7 Jean-Luc du Preez, 6 Rikus Bothma, 5 Rudolph Snyman, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Retshegofaditswe Nche.
Replacements: 16 Jan van der Merwe, 17 Mzamo Majola, 18 Frans van Wyk, 19. Hyron Andrews, 20 Dan du Preez, 21 Marco Jansen van Vuren, 22 Tinus de Beer, 23 Malcolm Jaer.
England Under-20: 15 Aaron Morris, 14 George Perkins, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Max Clark, 11 Howard Packman, 10 Rory Jennings, 9 James Mitchell, 8 James Chisholm, 7 Will Owen, 6 Lewis Ludlam, 5 Charlie Ewels (captain), 4 Will Witty, 3 Paul Hill, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Ellis Genge.
Replacements: 16 Jack Innard, 17 Sebastian Adeniran-Olule, 18 Ciaran Parker, 19 Kieran Treadwell, 20 Sam Skinner, 21 Will Homer, 22 Lloyd Evans, 23 Piers O’Conor.
Referee: Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Shuhei Kubo (Japan), Local
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
Fifth-place play-off
Australia 31-21 Scotland
A dominant second half from the Australian U20 team against Scotland has seen Australia claim a 31-21 victory in the fifth-place play-off.
Two tries to Australia's Jonah Placid helped the Australian side to the win with the young Aussies to play the winner of Ireland and Wales in the battle to finish fifth in 2015.
"I was impressed with our performance in the second half, with the forwards providing a good platform for the backs to go forward," Australian coach Adrian Thompson said.
"We had to work hard against a committed Scottish defence for all of our points and they certainly asked plenty of questions of us.
"Our aim now is to finish the tournament in fifth place and we will start our recovery and preparation for our final match.”
The scorers
Australia:
Tries: Placid 2, Lealaialoto-tui, McInerney, Sandall
Cons: Deegan 3
Scotland:
Tries: Coombes, Galloway, penalty try
Cons: Kinghorn 3
Yellow cards: Rory Hutchinson (Scotland, 51), Connal McInerney (Australia, 80)
Teams:
Australia Under-20: 15 Jonah Placid, 14 Alex Newsome, 13 Sione Tuipoloutu, 12 Duncan Paia'aua, 11 Andrew Kellaway (captain), 10 Andrew Deegan, 9 James Tuttle, 8 Adam Korczyk, 7 Michael Gunn, 6 Ned Hanigan, 5 Lukhan Lealaiauloto-tui, 4 Riley Winter, 3 Matt Sandell, 2 Folau Faingaa, 1 Fereti Saaga.
Replacements: 16 Cameron Orr, 17 Connal McInerney, 18 Tyrel Lomax, 19 Sam Croke, 20 Olly Kamp, 21 Isaak Fines-Leleiwasa, 22 James Dalgleish, 23 Campbell Magnay.
Scotland Under-20: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Robbie Nairn, 13 Alec Coombes, 12 Patrick Kelly, 11 Richard Galloway, 10 Rory Hutchinson, 9 Ben Vellacott, 8 Magnus Bradbury, 7 Jamie Ritchie (captain), 6 Lewis Wynne, 5 Andrew Davidson, 4 Scott Cummings, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Ross Graham, 1 Dan Elkington.
Replacements: 16 Sam James, 17 Callum Sheldon, 18 Jack Owlett, 19 Ally Miller, 20 Ruaridh Knott, 21 George Horne, 22 Tom Galbraith, 23 Archie Russell.
Referee: Elia Rizzo (Italy)
Ireland 12-22 Wales
Wales had edged the Six Nations meeting between these sides in March and, buoyed by their performance against Japan on day three, the young Dragons hit the ground running with fullback Dafydd Howells opening the scoring in the third minute.
Second row Seb Davies then increased the lead with his side's second try, converted by flyhalf Jarrod Evans, before Joey Carbery missed his first attempt at goal for their Celtic rivals to leave it at 10-0.
Within minutes Wales had a third try through winger Josh Adams and Ireland were in danger of being cast aside as their opponents scored at more than a point a minute. Even the loss of flank Tom Phillips to the sin-bin didn't derail Wales and instead they added another penalty late in the first half to go in with a commanding 22-0 advantage.
Ireland did finally get on the scoreboard five minutes into the second half with a try by fullback Ciaran Gaffney. The score remained at 22-7 though, even after Wales had captain Ollie Griffiths yellow-carded on the hour mark, until scrum-half Charlie Rock dotted down Ireland's second try nine minutes from time for what would be the final score.
The scorers:
For Ireland:
Tries: Gaffney, Rock
Con: Carbery
For Wales:
Tries: Adams, Howells, Davies
Con: Evans 2
Pen: Evans
Yellow cards: Tom Phillips (Wales), Ollie Griffiths (Wales)
Teams:
Ireland Under-20: 15 Ciaran Gaffney, 14 Stephen Fitzgerald, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Sam Arnold, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Joey Carbery, 9 Charlie Rock, 8 Nick Timoney, 7 Conor Oliver, 6 Josh Murphy (captain), 5 Alex Thompson, 4 David O'Connor, 3 Oisin Heffernan, 2 Sean McNulty, 1 Andrew Porter.
Replacements: 16 Adam McBurney, 17 Liam O'Connor, 18 Conan O'Donnell, 19 Lorcan Dow, 20 Rory Moloney, 21 Tomás Quinlan, 22 Fergal Cleary, 23 Jack Owens.
Wales Under-20: 15 Dafydd Howells, 14 Elis-Wyn Benham, 13 Garyn Smith, 12 Owen Watkin, 11 Joshua Adams, 10 Jarrod Evans, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Harrison Keddie, 7 Ollie Griffiths (captain), 6 Tom Phillips, 5 Adam Beard, 4 Seb Davies, 3 Dillon Lewis, 2 Liam Belcher, 1 Luke Garrett.
Replacements: 16 Torin Myhill, 17 Keagan Bale, 18 Joe Jones, 19 Lee Taylor, 20 Ryan Elias, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Daniel Jones, 23 Joe Thomas.
Referee: William Houston (Australia)
Ninth-place play-off
Argentina 46-5 Italy
No doubt disappointed to again be playing for at best ninth place in 2015, Los Pumitas came out firing against hosts Italy at the Stadio Luigi Zaffanella in Viadana, flyhalf Domingo Miotti capitalising on an Italian error from his kick ahead to pounce on the loose ball for the opening try.
Scrumhalf Lautaro Bazán Vélez – a rugby seven silver medallist at the Youth Olympic Games in 2014 – then grabbed a brace after two good breaks created the try-scoring opportunity, the latter by centre Tomas Granella.
Argentina weren't finished there though as first prop Cristian Bartoloni crashed over after line-out ball was spilled and then quick ball through the hands created an overlap for Granella to touch down to make it 31-0 at half-time.
Replacement hooker Luhandre Luus did cross for Italy in the 44th minute but Los Pumitas weren't finished and crossed for two more tries, Julian Dominguez handing off the Italian fullback for one before Patricio Baronio ran onto a chip through by the winger for an easy try.
Scorers:
For Argentina:
Tries: Miotti, Vélez 2, Bartoloni, Granella, Domínguez, Baronio
Cons: Miotti 3, Boffelli
Pen: Boffelli
For Italy:
Try: Luus
Yellow card: José Deheza (Argentina, 49)
The teams:
Argentina Under-20: 15 Emiliano Boffelli, 14 Santiago Resino, 13 Tomás Granella, 12 Bautista Ezcurra (captain), 11 Julián Domínguez, 10 Domingo Miotti, 9 Lautaro Bazán Vélez, 8 Ernesto Olmedo, 7 José Deheza, 6 Benito Paolucci, 5 Ignacio Larrague, 4 Ignacio Calas, 3 Cristian Bartoloni, 2 Ignacio Calles, 1 Nicolás Ocello.
Replacements: 16 Gaspar Baldunciel, 17 Javier Díaz, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 Vittorio Rosti, 20 Lucas Gasparri, 21 Patricio Baronio, 22 Ignacio Albornoz, 23 Matías Ferro.
Italy Under-20: 15 Giacomo de Santis, 14 Lorenzo Masato, 13 Matteo Gabbianelli, 12 Enrico Lucchin, 11 Tommaso Beraldin, 10 Matteo Minozzi, 9 Riccardo Raffaele, 8 Renato Giammarioli, 7 Jake Polledri, 6 Matteo Archetti, 5 Davide Zanetti, 4 Marco Lazzaroni, 3 Andrea Cincotto, 2 Edoardo Ferraro, 1 Paolo Buonfiglio.
Replacements: 16 Luhandre Luus, 17 Dino Dallavalle, 18 Federico Pavesi, 19 Samuele Ortis, 20 Matteo Cornelli, 21 Matteo Ferrari, 22 Maicol Azzolini, 23 Luca Sperandio.
Referee: Lloyd Linton (Scotland)
Samoa 12-29 Japan
When the sides had met in the Oceania Rugby Junior Championship in Australia five weeks ago, Samoa had recovered from 8-30 down to win the match with a late penalty, but this time in Viadana they had no answer to their Japanese opponents who picked up only their third victory in U20 Championship history.
Flank Faulua Makisi scored the opening try and then fullback Ryuji Noguchi converted his own try on the stroke of half-time to give last year's winners of the U20 Trophy a 12-0 half-time lead, one they deserved after dominating many aspects of play and simply not allowing the Samoans to play their trademark game.
That lead grew to 17 points when flank Kosuke Urabe dotted down within seven minutes of the restart, but then Samoa found their response as second-row Giovanni Kueffner-Mulitalo dotted down. The Pacific Islanders, though, were penalised for pulling down a Japanese maul with referee Gary Conway awarding a penalty try with Noguchi's conversion making it 26-7.
Samoa came back once more with a try for winger Trent Winterstein but there was to be no comeback this time as Noguchi added a penalty to ensure that Japan will play in the ninth place play-off on Saturday and leave the Samoans needing to beat Italy to avoid relegation to the U20 Trophy once more.
Scorers:
For Samoa:
Tries: Kueffner-Mulitalo, Winterstein
Con: Falaniko
For Japan:
Tries: Noguchi, Urabe, Makisi, Penalty try
Cons: Noguchi 3
Pen: Noguchi
Teams:
Japan Under-20: 15 Ryuji Noguchi, 14 Hironori Yatomi, 13 Kaisei Kasahara, 12 Yusuke Kajimura, 11 Hirofumi Higashikawa, 10 Taiseitsu Kanai, 9 Ryuji Yonemura, 8 Tevita Tatafu, 7 Kosuke Urabe, 6 Faulua Makisi, 5 Hiroto Kato, 4 Tomoki Saita, 3 Tatsuya Kakimoto, 2 Kosuke Horikoshi (captain), 1 Shogo Miura
Replacements: 16 Ryosuke Iwaihara, 17 Ryoma Kuhara, 18 Yuma Fujino, 19 Atata Moeakiola, 20 Yosuke Sano, 21 Daiki Nakajima, 22 Rinpei Sasaki, 23 Hironori Yatomi.
Samoa Under-20: 15 Chase Tiatia, 14 Trent Winterstein, 13 Jonathan Faauli, 12 Josh Ioane, 11 Malu Falaniko, 10 Orbyn Leger, 9 Jonathan Taumateine, 8 Josh Dowsing, 7 Jordan Jackett, 6 Darren Tiumalu, 5 Giovanni Kueffner-Mulitalo, 4 Ben Tuiomanufili, 3 Mike Tamoaieta, 2 Elia Elia, 1 Junior Halafuka.
Replacements: 16 Ieremia Mataena, 17 Jarred Adams, 18 Marco Fepulea'i, 19 Mika Tapili, 20 Gordon Langkilde, 21 Melani Matavao, 22 Pepesana Patafilo, 23 Johnny Samuelu.
Referee: Gary Conway (Ireland)
Source: @WorldRugby
