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Scotland and Wales reach playoff at Junior World Championship as Australia stumble
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As the World Rugby Junior Championship U20 campaign enters its final stages, four of the eight finals have been confirmed, with two big nations falling short.
Monday’s semi-finals saw four high-scoring U20 encounters, with 299 points scored across the 5th-8th and 13th-16th brackets.
The fifth-place semi-finals were both close, high-scoring affairs with an abundance of attacking flair on show, as Scotland booked their place in the final.
Their 44-26 victory over the Junior Argentinian’s was largely due to a comprehensive first-half performance, with Scotland keeping the South Americans to only one try in the first 40 minutes.
Standout Scotland hooker Joe Roberts added to his impressive tally of three tries in the group stages, adding two in the Tbilisi semi-final on Monday.
Roberts, a Glasgow Warrior, crossed either side of halftime to extend Scotland’s lead heading into the business end of the contest.
Hamish MacArthur, Oliver McKenna and Harvey Preston all added five-pointers in the second half for Scotland, while Bautista Lescano, Pedro Coll and Ramon Fernandez crossed for Argentina to close the gap.
With the 18-point victory, Scotland keep their hopes alive to record an equal best-ever finish at a Junior World Championship, when they take on Wales in the 5th place final.
In the game of the round to date, Wales held on late to edge Australia. 38-36, to clinch a final berth and a first victory over Australia since the France JWC in 2018.
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It was a brilliant encounter at Avchala Stadium, filled with backline moves, powerful carries, and back-and-forth lead changes.
Australia thought they won it at the death, but a knock-on in the lead-up would come back to haunt them as the final whistle sounded.
The semi-final featured a number of worrying injuries to both sides, hampering both sides’ lineups during the seesaw encounter.
Edwin Langi and John Greenfell dotted down in the second half to wrestle back momentum for the Australians, after Luke Evans was sent off for Wales.
But it was Wales who held their nerve to reach the 5th-place playoff against Scotland on Friday.
The afternoon kicked off with Japan in fine form over the USA in Kutaisi, where they ended a long-standing 19-game losing streak at Junior World Championship competitions.
Japan won convincingly, 71-21, helped by hat-tricks by Rio Iwakura and Sota Miura to clinch their first victory since a 29-12 triumph against Samoa in the 2015 ninth-place semi-final.
USA scored late, but a red card to replacement prop Alfie Booth highlighted a disappointing outing in Georgia.
In the other 13th-16th place semi-final, Spain dominated Uruguay, 57-6, to reach the final against Japan on Friday.
The nine-try victory was a standout performance from Spain in their first-ever clash against Uruguay in a Junior World Championship game.
Impressive midfielder Oriol Marsinyac showcased his incredible talent once again, running in two tries in the semi-final, adding to his four from the group stages.
It was Spain’s first triumph in eight games in the tournament, having last won in their first appearance at the competition in 2024.
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