Australia took third place overall in the Junior World Championship after beating France 30-17 in their third place playoff match in Padova, Italy. Here’s highlights of that match, as well as the rest of the deciders.
As we saw yesterday,
New Zealand defeated England
in the final to take the trophy yet again. Places were still up for grabs though as the remaining sides battled it out to get as high a finish as possible.
Australia
, who were knocked out by the Baby Blacks last week, were too good for
France
as they scored tries through players who have brothers playing for the Wallabies, and in Super Rugby. Captain Colby Faingaa, one of those, said the feeling was good after capturing third place.
“We were severely disappointed after the performance (vs NZ). We knew we had it in us, but the last two games we werent able to string it together. Its third place, but were very happy and the teams excited,” he said
In the match to contend fifth place in Treviso,
South Africa
came up overwhelming winners against
Fiji
, as they trounced them 104-17. The Baby Boks obviously had a point to prove after missing out on the semi finals. That they did, scoring 16 tries in total, equaling the Junior World Championship record that they set against the USA in 2008.
Wales
beat
Ireland
38-24, scoring five tries to the three of rivals Ireland. Andrew Conway did equal Zac Guildford’s try scoring record for the tournament, but ultimately it was a day that the Irish would rather forget, despite their late consolation try.
Ninth place was contested by
Scotland
and
Argentina
, with the later coming out 15-14 winners thanks to their early lead and solid defense. In the relegation battle between
Italy
and
Tonga
, the hosts came out tops with a 34-22 win, their first of the tournament. Italy survive and will be in the 2012 tournament in South Africa, while Tonga bow out to make way for Samoa.
The playlist below has the Australia vs France highlights first, and then short clips from each of the other matches described above. Enjoy.
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