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IRB U19 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

News

Junior final a South American affair

Thursday 24th April 2008

Chile and Uruguay will contest the inaugural IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy final in Santiago after overcoming Romania and Georgia at the Stade Français Club to finish top of their respective pools on Wednesday.

Uruguay were the first to reach the final after a determined and disciplined 20-16 defeat of Georgia in Pool B, before host nation Chile delighted the 5,000 strong crowd with a 14-3 win over Romania in Pool A.

The day's two other matches took place at Estadio San Carlos with Namibia and Korea both recording their first victories of the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy against the Cook Islands 25-14 and Jamaica 55-17 respectively.

Chile 14 Romania 3

Romania had gone into the match sitting on top of the Pool by virtue of having secured bonus point victories over Namibia and the Cook Islands in comparison to Chile only scoring four tries in the opening match against the Cook Islands.

The Romanians also took the lead in only the third minute with a penalty from their fly-half Alin Georgescu after Chile flanker Felipe Yaconi had been sent to the sin-bin by Uruguayan referee Gustavo Gerbasi.

Roared on by the 5,000 strong crowd, Chile held firm while a man down and went on to level the score at 3-3 with a penalty in the 24th minute through Francisco González after Romania's prop Vlad Badlicescu was sin-binned.

Chile took the lead for the first time just before the interval. First Santiago Fuenzalida and then the impressive second row Tomás Dahmen made a break through the centre, before the ball was spun wide to wing Felipe Brangier to step inside to score the try.

With the Chilean half-back pairing continuing to impress with scrum half Max Rochette looking extremely good and fly-half González showing a lot of vision, it was perhaps surprising that the next score did not come until the 68th minute.

González kicked a penalty then to stretch the advantage to 11-3 and Romania were then once again reduced to 14 men when wing Ionut Puisoru was sin-binned and the Chilean fly-half again slotted home the kick to ease his side further ahead.

There was still time though for Chilean replacement Ignacio Silva to join Puisoru in the sin-bin for the final few minutes as Romania were left ruing their inability to turn their possession into points as the host nation had been able to do.

Chile's dreams of winning the title on home soil - and therefore secure promotion to the IRB Junior World Championship in 2009 - remain alive.

Romania meanwhile will look to bounce back and end the tournament strongly when they face Georgia in the third place play-off.

Namibia 25 Cook Islands 14

Namibia secured third place in Pool A with a 25-14 victory over the Cook Islands at the Estadio San Carlos on Wednesday.

Both sides made a number of changes to their starting line-ups in a bid to claim an elusive first win in the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy. However, it was the Namibians who took control of the match early on courtesy of a dominant forward display to run out convincing winners and book a place in Sunday's fifth place play-off.

The first half was a tight affair, with neither side daring to take too many risks, but it was the Cook Islands that broke the deadlock through the boot of fly-half Roney Maui, who sent the ball soaring between the uprights for an early 3-0 lead.

Spurred into action, Namibia pressed to get back into the match and soon responded when Shawn Kaizemi crossed for a try, which the centre converted to give his side a 7-3 advantage.

With a powerful Namibian side in the ascendancy, it was looking as though the Cook Islands would struggle, but although Namibia stretched further ahead via a Kaizemi penalty, the Cooks fought valiantly and created a number of opportunities of their own.

With time running out in the half, the Cook Islands battered the Namibia line and were rewarded with their first try of the night courtesy of prop Alex Woonton's push for the line. Although the conversion drifted wide of the upright the Cook Islands were just two points adrift.

With the match balanced on a knife edge it looked as though the Cooks had done enough to go into the interval within a score, but as the clocked ticked over for the fourth minute of first-half injury time, Namibia dealt a significant blow as hooker Theo Coetzee crashed over to secure his side a welcome 15-8 buffer at half time.

In a gripping match of high quality, the Santiago crowd were treated to a superb second half of rugby during which the Cook Islands threw everything at their Namibian counterparts in a concerted attempt to regain the lead.

However, it was the superb tactical kicking of the Namibian back three that kept the Cooks Islands at bay and the African side stretched their lead further with Kaizemi adding to his personal tally with a breathtaking 55 metre drop goal that took the Namibians almost out of sight at 18-11.

The Cook Islands came back strongly and dominated the middle section of the half as they pressed for a second try and they were eventually rewarded for their efforts with a second Maui penalty, which reduced the arrears to just four points with 13 minutes to go.

That, though, was as close as the Cooks were to come as despite the introduction of fresh legs, the Islanders were unable to secure the all-important try. With time running out and Namibia's defence dominating, it seemed as though the match would not deliver another try.

However, as the Cooks pressed, mistakes were forthcoming and Namibia capitalised and closed out the match through replacement Cedric Haraseb's try six minutes from time. Kaizemi added the icing to the cake with a superbly struck conversion to make the final score 25-14.

Uruguay 20 Georgia 16

Uruguay emerged from an extremely tight game as 20-16 victors over Georgia at the Stade Français Club on Wednesday to confirm their place in the inaugural IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy final against host nation Chile.

The Uruguayans came out on top through their sheer guts and determination to win the Pool B decider, although their discipline was also a key factor as they refused to give away kickable penalties - unlike their opponents who also had two players sin-binned in the second half.

Georgia had opened the scoring in the ninth minute with a penalty from full-back Goderdzi Joglidze - a kick which made him the leading point scorer in the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy - but wing Tomas Jolivet edged Uruguay into the lead eight minutes later by rounding off a flowing counter-attack.

The try came from a drop out, Uruguay counter-attacking with full-back Santiago Gortari kicking ahead and Jolivet chasing to touch down for what proved the only try of the first half.

Two more penalties from the boot of Joglidze edged Georgia back in front as the half hour approached, but Uruguay responded with two kicks of their own from centre Geronimo Etcheverry to take a slender 11-9 lead into half time.

Joglidze edged Georgia back ahead within 10 minutes of the break by converting his own try, which came from a maul before the play opened up and the full-back had the pace to beat the Uruguayan defence on the outside.

However Georgia then had number eight Viktor Kolelishvili sin-binned in the 62nd minute and Uruguayan fly-half Germán Albanell kicked the penalty to cut the deficit to two points

Another Albanell penalty edged Uruguay back in front and although the South Americans spent the last five minutes deep in their own half, they were able to add another penalty from their fly-half before Georgia had their hooker Beka Skhulukhia sin-binned for striking an opponent.

Korea 55 Jamaica 17

Kim Hyun Soo scored four tries as Korea booked their place in the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy fifth place play-off against Namibia on Sunday with a hard fought 55-17 Pool B victory over Jamaica at the Estadio San Carlos on Wednesday.

The Koreans, who had not recorded a victory in the competition prior to the match, laid the platform for the victory with an impressive six-try return, but it was the Jamaicans who received a standing ovation when their scrum half Hubert Thomas crossed for the first try of the match and Jamaica's opening try of the tournament after just three minutes.

That, though, was as close as the Jamaicans were to get as Korea made use of their rapier backs and powerful forwards to power back into the match. Shin Young Jin got the Koreans off the mark with a try after 15 minutes and the floodgates opened as number eight Kim Hyun Soo crossed five minutes later for a try converted by Seo In Soo.

Jamaica, playing in their first IRB Age Grade tournament, were courageous in defence, but struggled to withstand the barrage of attacks launched deep inside their territory and Korea burst through for a third try through winger Kim Gwong Min. Seo In Soo added the extras. Less than a minute had elapsed before Korea scored their fourth, this time through imposing second row Kwon Soon Yong.

Korea's scoring surge was stemmed briefly as Thomas crossed for his second converted score on 31 minutes, but it was to be a temporary respite as Korea had time before the interval to score two further tries through Kim Hyun Soo and Jeong Yong Woo to leave the Koreans with a comfortable 36-17 lead.

The second half was all one-way traffic, though the Jamaicas tackled heroically and countered at every opportunity. Korea threw on the substitutes after the interval, but the changes did not seem to affect their rhythm as three further tries were scored with Kim Hyun Soo completing a memorable quartet of tries.

The number eight's hat trick was secured in the fifth minute of the second half, as he dotted down in the corner for an unconverted try which stretched Korea's lead to 41-17. On 66 minutes the back row player rounded off a solid personal display with his fourth try of the match, converted by Seo In Soo.

The final minutes were all Korea and buoyed by an improved team performance, the Koreans had time for one final try seven minutes from time, with powerhouse prop Shin Young Jin crossing for his second try of the match to round off a good day at the office for Korea.

The Tournament draws to a conclusion on Sunday with four matches at Stade Français Club, culminating in the final at 16:30 local time between Chile and Uruguay with the winner not only lifting the inaugural title but also gaining promotion to the IRB Junior World Championship in 2009.

FINALS DAY - All times are local (GMT-4)

10:00 - 7th place play-off: Cook Islands v Jamaica
12:00 - 5th place play-off: Namibia v Korea
14:30 - 3rd place play-off: Romania v Georgia
16:30 - FINAL: Chile v Uruguay

With thanks to the IRB