England U20 avoid collapse against Australia with late penalty

Ben Coen’s last-gasp penalty earned England a remarkable bonus point 36-33 victory after they looked to be heading out of the World Rugby U20 Championship, but it may not be enough for the Red Rose to retain their crown.

England skipper Kepu Tuipulotu scored an 11-minute hat-trick in his first game as skipper, to put them in charge, but Australia refused to give up and looked to have secured themselves a share of the spoils with a brilliant comeback.

Mark Mapletoft’s side will be left to count the cost of last week’s poor display against the Junior Springboks if either France or Argentina pick up a bonus when they come head-to-head at the Payanini Center later this evening.

England got the first of the four tries that they needed in the 12th minute after a nervy start when Connor Treacy thundered onto a short Archie McParland pass.

But they were pegged back two minutes later when Malakye Enasio, who dominated the midfield all afternoon, spotted a gap and charged through before swinging a pass out wide to Nick Conway.

Tuipulotu got his first try after 33 minutes when Olamide Sodeke nicked a lineout, spun around and sent him across the line, and then his second arrived on the stroke of half-time from a pick and go.
And he completed his hat-trick four minutes after the break with another close-range effort after Archie McParland had bamboozled the Australians.

The Wallaby showed what was to come in the 49th minute, less than 60 seconds after having James Martens sin-binned, when Conway picked off Ben Coen to run the length of the pitch.

Jack Bracken’s fourth try of the competition after 61 minutes, one of four Coen converted, looked to have finally killed off Australia, who then staged a remarkable comeback with three tries in the final 17 minutes.

Hwi Sharples started it off after 63 minutes before Trevor King got across five minutes later, and then Martens tiptoed down the sidelines to level the scores at 33-33 six minutes from the end.

But just as it looked like they were heading out of the tournament, Exeter Chiefs fly-half Coen kept his nerve to kick the match-winning penalty with less than 30 seconds on the clock.