There were wins for Argentina and New Zealand but Australia and South Africa were beaten.
Argentina clinched a convincing victory over hosts South Africa as Italy stunned Australia in the World Rugby Under-20 Championship on Thursday. The pressure is real now for South Africa to top their pool after they succumbed to a 12-31 defeat to Argentina.
Argentina dominated from the outset and crossed the line in the fourth minute through hooker Juan Greising Revol.
Four minutes later No.8 Juan Pedro Bernasconi dotted down for the South Americans’ second followed by a try in the 23rd minute by Revol to get his brace which took his side into a 17-0 lead at the break.
The bonus point try for Argentina came in the 48th minute through captain Efrain Elias.
South Africa finally got on the scoreboard due to a penalty try after an indiscretion by Felipe Bruno Schmidt.
Flank Juan Penoucos dotted down in the 70th minute before Bathobele Hlekani got a consolation score at the death which Koen failed to convert after an evening to forget for the pivot.
South Africa 12 [Tries: Hlekani, penalty try] Argentina 32 [Tries: Bernasconi, Penoucos, Elias, Revol 2; Cons: Di Lucca 3]
South Africa: 15 Bruce Sherwood, 14 Joel Leotlela, 13 Jurenzo Julius, 12 Phillip-Albert van Niekerk, 11 Litelihle Bester, 10 Liam Koen, 9 Asad Moos, 8 Tiaan Jacobs, 7 Bathobele Hlekani, 6 Thabang Mphafi, 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Jaco Grobbelaar, 3 Zachary Porthen (captain), 2 Luca Bakkes, 1 Ruan Swart.
Replacements: 16 Ethan Bester, 17 Liyema Ntshanga, 18 Casper Badenhorst, 19 Thomas Dyer, 20 Keanu Coetsee, 21 Sibabalwe Mahashe, 22 Tylor Sefoor, 23 Joshua Boulle.
Argentina: 15 Benjamin Elizalde, 14 Timotea Silva, 13 Faustino Sanchez Valarolo, 12 Tomas Medina, 11 Franco Rossetto, 10 Santino Di Lucca, 9 Tomas Di Biase, 8 Juan Pedro Bernasconi, 7 Santos Fernansez de Oliveira, 6 Juan Penoucos, 5 Felipe Bruno, 4 Efrain Elias (captain), 3 Tomas Rapetti, 2 Juan Greising Revol, 1 Diego Correa.
Replacements: 16 Juan Manuel Vivas, 17 Joaquin Yakiche, 18 Gael Galvan, 19 Alvaro Garcia Iandolino, 20 Agustin Sareelli, 21 Jeronimo LLorens, 22 Facundo Rodriguez, 23 Felipe Ledesma.
In a low-scoring affair – Italy and Australia couldn’t beach each other’s defensive line until the 27th minute when Luca Bellucci crossed over for the opening score to take the lead into half-time by 7-0.
Australia’s second half started horribly with a yellow card to flank Dane Sawers.
Three minutes later hooker Valerio Siciliano dotted down for Italy’s second.
Two minutes later opposition hooker Ottavio Tuipulotu cancelled out Siciliano’s score with a try of his own.
Wing Ronan Leahy scored Australia’s third and final try of the evening as McLaughlin-Phillips missed the conversion to level the scores.
Italy hit the final nail in the coffin when flyhalf Simone Brisighella slotted a penalty attempt to give Italy a hard-fought 17-12 victory over the Junior Wallabies.
Australia 12 [Tries: Tuipulotu, Leahy; Con: McLaughlin-Phillips] Italy 17 [Tries: Siciliano, Bellucchi; Cons: Brisighella 2; Pen: Brisighella]
Australia: 15 Shane Wilcox, 14 Ronan Leahy, 13 Kadin Pritchard, 12 Jarrah McLeod, 11 Angus Staniforth, 10 Harry McLaughlin-Phillips, 9 Dan Nelson, 8 Jack Harley, 7 Dane Sawers, 6 Aden Ekanayake, 5 Ollie McCrea, 4 Toby Macpherson (captain), 3 Trevor King, 2 Ottavio Tuipulotu, 1 Lington Ieli.
Replacements: 16 Bryn Edwards, 17 Nathaniel Tiitii, 18 Nick Bloomfield, 19 Eamon Doyle, 20 Dominic Thygesen, 21 Billy Dickens, 22 Joe Dillon, 23 Frankie Goldsbrough.
Italy: 15 Mirko Belloni, 14 Francesco Imberti, 13 Nicola Bozzo (captain), 12 Patrick de Villiers 11 Lorenzo Elettri, 10 Simone Brisighella, 9 Lorenzo Casilio, 8 Giacomo Milano, 7 Luca Bellucci, 6 Nelson Casartelli, 5 Piero Gritti, 4 Samuele Mirenzi, 3 Federico Pisani, 2 Valerio Siciliano, 1 Sergio Pelliccioli.
Replacements: 16 Nicholas Gasperini, 17 Francesco Gentile, 18 Davide Ascari, 19 Tommaso Redondi, 20 Mattia Midena, 21 Jacopo Botturi, 22 Mattia Jimenez, 23 Marco Scalabrini.
New Zealand took a great step in their quest to cement their top spot in Pool A as they claimed a hard-fought 27-26 win over defending champions France.
France started off strongly as they almost scored due to a misfiring lineout by New Zealand in their own 22.
The pressure eventually turned into points when France fullback Xan Mousques dotted down for the opening try.
Flyhalf Hugo Reus extended France’s lead to eight points when he succeeded with a penalty attempt in the 22nd minute after New Zealand flank Andrew Smith received a yellow card for foul play.
Fortunately for New Zealand, those were the only points they conceded during Smith’s sin-bin period.
Reus extended France’s lead to 11-0 with a penalty kick heading into half-time.
The second half turned out to be all New Zealand.
Centre Aki Tuivailala crashed over for the first of New Zealand’s four tries – converted by flyhalf Rico Simpson.
France struck back with a try of their own through flank Joe Quere Karaba in the 50th minute but three minutes later Wing Stanley Solomon struck back for New Zealand.
France scrumhalf Leo Carbonneau received a yellow card in the 57th minute as New Zealand went on to score two more unconverted tries through Dylan Pledger and Manumaua Letiu with a solitary penalty by Reus for France in between the two scores.
France took the lead back with an unconverted try in the 74th minute by wing Mathis Ferte.
New Zealand had a penalty reversed due to foul play by Joshua Smith and it seemed as if France had the match won – however, New Zealand showed their class to keep playing and a penalty in the 80th minute by Simpson saw New Zealand be victorious in Stellenbosch leaving the defending champions in a vulnerable position to qualify for the knockout stages.
France 26 [Tries: Ferte, Mousques, Karaba; Con: Reus; Pens: Reus 3] New Zealand 27 [Tries: Pledger, Letiu, Solomon, Tuivailala; Cons: Simpson 2; Pen: Simpson]
France: 15 Xan Mousques, 14 Nathan Bollengier, 13 Fabien Brau-Boirie, 12 Mathys Belaubre, 11 Mathis Ferte, 10 Hugo Reaus, 9 Leo Carbonneau, 8 Mathis Castro-Ferreira, 7 Geoffrey Malaterre, 6 Joe Quere Karaba, 5 Charles Kante Samba, 4 Corentin Mezou, 3 Zinedine Aouad, 2 Barnabe Massa, 1 Lino Julien.
Replacements: 16 Thomas Lacombre, 17 Lorencio Boyer Gallardo, 18 Thomas Duchene, 19 Brent Liufau 20 Sialevailea Tolofua, 21 Thomas Souverbie, 22 Maxence Biasotto, 23 Axel Desperes.
New Zealand: 15 Issac Hutchinson, 14 Xavier Tito-Harris, 13 Aki Tuivailala, 12 Xavi Taele, 11 Stanley Solomon, 10 Rico Simpson, 9 Dylan Pledger, 8 Mosese Bason, 7 Johnny Lee, 6 Andrew Smith, 5 Liam Jack, 4 Tom Allen, 3 Logan Wallace, 2 Vernon Bason (captain), 1 Will Martin.
Replacements: 16 Manumaua Letiu, 17 Sika Pole, 18 Josh Smith, 19 Cam Christie, 20 Matt Lowe, 21 Ben O’Donovan, 22 Sam Coles, 23 King Maxwell.
