NEW ZEALAND U20 31 WALES U20 6
Sam Warburton’s team threw the kitchen sink at them, but there was no shifting the young All Blacks as they moved inexorably into the inaugural IRB Junior World Championship final by beating Wales 31-6 at Rodney Parade.
For New Zealand skipper Chris Smith this was a fourth successive victory over Wales at global age grade tournaments. And the second row picked up the Man of the Match award as well to rub extra salt into the home wounds.
But there was no faulting the Welsh effort. They doubled and tripled up on the tackles and there was only four points difference between the two sides at half-time.
Wales were helped by the strong, driving rain in the first-half and they kicked well to gain ground and put the All Blacks on the defensive. It was Leigh Halfpenny who gave Wales the lead after only three minutes with the first of his two penalties, but the response from last year’s IRB Under 19 World champions was shift.
A pin-point, cross field kick from fullback Trent Renata in the Welsh 22 went over Halfpenny’s head on the right wing and there was hooker Quentin MacDonald lurking to snap up the first of four tries.
It took the pre-tournament favourites 22 minutes before they scored again, this time via giant prop Paea Fa’anunu from a close range line-out. But on the stroke of half-time Halfpenny cut the gap with his second penalty.
That meant there was all to play for after the break, although Welsh hopes were hampered when their skipper Warburton was unable to make the second half because of injury.
With the wind at their backs the All Blacks became even more confident and began to dominate possession. The Welsh defence was magnificent and Ryan Bevington, Gareth Owen, Haydn Pugh and Jonathan Davies all proved their worth at the highest level in their age range.
The trusty boot of Renata enabled the All Blacks to punish Wales as they tried to make headway into the strong wind. Two penalties from him in the third quarter stretched the lead and he added a third after No.8 Nasi Manu had crossed in the right corner for the try of the night.
There was one more to come, from wing Sean Maitland and Renata converted to claim 11 points on the rain-soaked night.
The All Blacks move on to face England in the final and can now reflect on five successive victories over Wales at U19 and now U20 level – 25-8 in 2005, 38-14 in 2006, 37-14 and 36-12 in 2007 and now 31-6.
Scorers:
Wales:
Pens: L Halfpenny (2)
New Zealand:
Tries: Q MacDonald, P Fa’anunu, N Manu, S Maitland
Con: T Renata
Pens: T Renata (3)
Wales: D Evans; L Halfpenny, J Davies, G Owen, J Norris; D Biggar (L Ford 50), R Webb; R Bevington (S Hobbs 61), R Prosser, S Andrews (P Palmer 61), H Pugh, J Turnbull (A Sweet 80), J Tipuric (B Roberts 79, D Franks, S Warburton (captain, L Phillips 41)
New Zealand: T Renata; Z Guildford, K Poki, R Crotty (J Willison 76), S Maitland; D Kirkpatrick (A Taylor 72), A Smith (G Hart 65); P Fa’anunu (T Smith 71), Q MacDonald (A Dixon 45), B Afeaki, C Smith (captain), S Whitelock (J Townsend 41), M Luamanu, L Braid, N Manu
Referee: R Poite (France)
