1
Australia Sevens rep Lancaster stars as Junior Wallabies beat Fiji
A double to Australia men’s Sevens rep Darby Lancaster has propelled the Junior Wallabies to a 47-36 win over Fiji U20 in their opening pool clash at the World Rugby U20 Championships.
ADVERTISEMENT
The barnstorming left winger produced the match-winning try with 12th minutes remaining with Australia behind 37-36.
A wide shift from outside their own 22 to the left put Lancaster down the edge, he rounded Fiji’s defence to score untouched under the posts before a final penalty goal put the game out of Fiji’s reach.
Australia were made to work for the result after Fiji hit back at opportune times just as the Junior Wallabies looked like running away with the game.
Lancaster’s first try, cutting back inside traffic after a Taj Annan offload and deft hands from No 8 Leafi Talataina, gave Australia a 17-13 lead which quickly became 24-13 after another try to centre David Vaihu.
A Darby Double and a W to open our tournament.#WorldRugbyU20s pic.twitter.com/fZopuRY8lf
— Wallabies (@wallabies) June 24, 2023
Head coach Nathan Grey praised his side for sticking with their game plan which in the end proved too much for the Fijians.
ADVERTISEMENT
“It was a fantastic game of footy with lots of tries scored and we’re very happy that we were able to get away with a win. We stuck to our playing style and we were able to get over the line.
“Our attacking ruck was pretty strong; our ball carriers were sometimes too good – we’ve got to speed up our support to make sure we don’t turn those balls over. And maintain our playing style, when we do that we can put teams under pressure and score points.”
Despite being down to 14 men, Fiji responded right on halftime to trail 24-20 at the break.
Australian wing Ronan Leahy struck early in the second half only for Fiji to respond quickly through Kavaia Tagivetaua.
A red card to prop Marley Pearce threatened to derail Australia’s match as Fiji then took the lead through Nakalevu and a penalty goal took the lead out to 37-29.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Junior Wallabies needed to respond and reserve flyhalf Jack Bowen was instrumental in bringing Australia home.
Bowen put Melbourne Rebels fullback Mason Gordon over and then converted the try, before linking up with Lancaster for the game-winner.
Captain Nick Baker was happy to come out of the ‘dogfight’ with a result to keep their title hopes alive.
“It was sort of 50-50 at times but we sort of stuck through to the 80th minutes, and finally got that kick in the last 10 minutes that put us over the line. It was a bit of a dogfight but we got there in the end.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Dad Marty was also a handy rugby player for Linwood back in the day. Great bloke. Sensational softball career.
2 Go to commentsWhat ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
129 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
129 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
129 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
129 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
129 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
129 Go to commentsI knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
129 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
129 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
129 Go to commentsHo hum.
129 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
129 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
129 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
129 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
129 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
129 Go to commentsBen, nobody gets fooled anymore by selective and biased data to support an hypothesis. Games are decided on such small margins these days that you win some and lose some, and dominance is a thing of the rugby past. Look at the RWC circle of fortune…. Ireland beats SA who beat France who beat NZ who beat Ireland. And so it goes on. Match officials help to eliminate real indiscretions. If they had been with us years before, no doubt results would have been different. Remember Andy Haden’s dive from a lineout in 1978 for which a match-wining penalty was awarded? Wales should have beaten the ABs that day. They took the loss like the gentlemen they were.
129 Go to comments