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New Zealand lead the way after a competitive opening day at the World Rugby U20 Championship 2018.
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New Zealand kicked off the defence of their World Rugby U20 Championship title with a ruthless 11-try 67-0 defeat of Japan on a day of twists and turns in France on Wednesday.
The six-time champions were relentless from the outset with Will Tucker racing over with only 50 seconds on the clock and he was followed over the line by Leicester Faingaanuku, who grabbed a brace either side of All Blacks Sevens star Vilimoni Koroi’s effort to wrap up the bonus point inside 18 minutes.
Centre Bailyn Sullivan showed off his pace with a 75-metre scamper to score a try from a kickoff shortly after.
Bailyn Sullivan going "coast to coast" for the @AllBlacks U20's with an electric run from the restart at the #WorldRugbyU20's pic.twitter.com/DNDxClFnKx
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) May 30, 2018
Captain Tom Christie had the final say of the first half as he managed to ground the ball despite a desperate tackle by the Japanese to send his side in 38-0 at half-time.
Winger Jamie Spowart, who had had a try disallowed in the first half, went on to score a hat-trick in the second as New Zealand sent out a powerful message to their competition.
“We’re really happy with how we performed, it was an amazing game to have up first because Japan really challenged us,” New Zealand captain Tom Christie said.
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“Maybe the score doesn’t reflect that but they competed really hard at the breakdown and their maul was hard to stop. We’ll go back to the drawing board and have a look at the details and what we want to work on, and really focus on us.”
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The 2018 edition of the premier age-grade tournament is predicted to be the most competitive yet and the opening day lived up to that expectation with four matches decided by less than seven points.
South Africa were forced to dig deep to edge past an impressive Georgia 33-27 before hosts France came from 12 points down to beat Ireland 26-24 in the other Pool C match in Perpignan.
Straight through the middle! @FFRugby score 60 metre beauty at the #WorldRugbyU20s Championship pic.twitter.com/1PiiYGkUlh
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) May 30, 2018
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The two matches in Béziers were equally tight affairs. First Italy capitalised on a late Scotland yellow card to snatch a 27-26 victory thanks to Niccolo Taddia’s try at the death, before Wales avenged their 2017 loss to Australia with a 26-21 victory.
ICYMI: @federugby beat @Scotlandteam with a last gasp try at the #WorldRugbyU20s pic.twitter.com/nRPJL64PzB
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) May 30, 2018
Welshman Cai Evans, the son of World Rugby Hall of Fame inductee Ieuan Evans, converted tries from centre Ioan Nicholas and replacement winger Joe Goodchild as well kicking four penalties for a 16-point haul on the night.
England, the 2017 runners-up, had to withstand a strong first-half performance by Argentina in the first match in Narbonne before coming through to win 39-18.
Play resumes June 3.
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
Ben Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
19 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
19 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
86 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
4 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
19 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to comments