LIVE BLOG: Wales U20 33 – 57 Australia U20

WALES END ON A HIGH – Wales 33 – 57 Australia (79 min)
Another great counter attack by Wales ends with Louie Hennessey passing inside to Harri Williams who races over for a try converted by Harri Wilde. That makes it 9-5 on the try front.

WELSH LINE-OUT MALFUNCTION – Wales 26 – 57 Australia (77 min)
Another one for the clinical Wallabies as they score at the tail of a line-out that was overthrown. Bowen converted.

ANOTHER DRIVING LINE-OUT TRY FOR WALLABIES – Wales 26 – 50 Australia (73 min)
Harri Houston breaks out of defence brilliantly, but then gets turned over. Aussies kick to the corner and replacement hooker Harrison Usher converts the driving line-out. Bowen’s conversion brings up the half-century.

THE SKIPPER GOES OVER – Wales 26 – 43 Australia (70 min)
They keep on coming! Now skipper Ryan Woodman has ploughed over at the posts from 10 metres out to notch a fourth Welsh try, which Edwards converts.

THIRD WELSH TRY – Wales 19 – 43 Australia (65 min)
This Welsh side won’t give in and keeps on carrying back against the Aussies. Replacement hooker Lewis Morgan reclaims thee ball and sets up a raid that allows a kick in behind the Australian defence and Llien Morgan races onto the ball to pick up his second try. Edwards adds the extras

MAGNIFICENT SEVEN TRIES FOR WALLABIES – Wales 12 – 43 Australia (62 min)
Brilliant high-speed break out of defence by wing Tim Ryan paves the way for seventh try for Junior Wallabies. Jack Bowen scores and kicks the conversion.

ANOTHER WELSH TRY GOES BEGGING (58 min)
You can’t fault the effort from Wales, but the precision has been missing at vital moments. This time a pass from Harri Houston to Llien Morgan for a certain try goes to the floor.

BACK-TO-BACK AUSSIE TRIES – Wale 12 – 36 Australia (49-50 mins)
Bang, bang, the Aussies hit back from the next two kick-offs. Lock Toby McPherson gets the first and then skipper and scrum half Teddy Wilson the next. Both converted by Jack Bowen. Mountain to climb for Wales now.

WALES BACK IN IT –  Wales 12 – 22 Australia (48 min)
Great counter attacking and phase play from Wales leads to a try in the right corner by Llien Morgan after a great flat pass from Dan Edwards. Edwards adds the extras.

AUSSIES STRIKE EARLY AGAIN – Wales 5 – 22 Australia (42 min)
Good hands and fast attacks have caught Wale flat-footed in the opening minutes of the second half. Just as he did in the first half, centre Harry O’Donnell runs through to score his second try. This time Jack Bowen adds the extras.

BACK UNDERWAY IN CAPE TOWN
Second half has started and Ryan Woodman’s side have 40 minutes to bridge the 10 point gap to claim fifth place.

OH, SO CLOSE AGAIN! – Wales 5 – 15 Australia (HALF-TIME)
Wales earn a penalty and kick to the Aussie 22 for one final line-out in the half. The attack ends with Morgan Morse rolling over the line and being held up.

ANOTHER PENALTY, ANOTHER TRY FOR AUSSIES – Wales 5 – 15 Australia (35 min)
This time it is Mackenzie Martin who is penalised for not rolling away quickly enough at the breakdown. The ball goes into the corner and hooker Liam Bowdon picks up the try.

WALLABIES GO OVER AGAIN – Wales 5 – 10 Australia (30 min)
Moran Morse is penalised for not releasing in a tackle on his 22 and the Aussies go for the corner. They eventually get over the line from close range thanks to lock Toby McPherson. No conversion again.

NO MISTAKE THIS TIME! – Wales 5 – 5 Australia (23 min)
Wales attack again and Martin squeezes through a gap on half way. His off loach frees Bryn Bradley who races yup too the 22 before passing to hooker Lewis Lloyd on the right wing. He races the length of the 22 to score in the corner – his third try of the tournament.

WALES GET OVER LINE, LOSE THE BALL (21 min)
Great work by Harri Houston ends with Wales winning an offside penalty on the Aussie 22. Dan Edwards kicks to the corner and the line-out drive comes on. It gets close, but no try,. Archie Hughes spreads the ball and Mackenzie Martin goes through a tackle and over the line, but has the ball taken off him.

Wales had missed 11 tackles in the opening 13 minutes and not straight at a line-out had given the ball back to the Aussies.

WALES REPLACEMENT (10 min)
Evan Hill has gone off with an arm injury and has been replaced in the second row by Mackenzie Martin.

Back-to-back penalties conceded by Wales allow the Junior Wallabies to kick their way into Welsh territory. Long throw over the top of a line-out sees them get into the 22 and then they conjure up a try wide out on the right by centre Harry O’Donnell

Encouraging start by Wales as they move the ball well. They get a penalty in the Aussie 22 and kick to the corner. Great chance to strike with their powerful driving maul, but the throw misses the target and the chance is lost.

The anthems are over and Ryan Woodman gets set to lead Wales into their fifth and final game at this year’s World Rugby U20 Championship. The referee is Angus Mabey. Dan Edwards kicks-off for Wales.

Wales U20: Harri Houston; Tom Florence, Louie Hennessey, Bryn Bradley, Llien Morgan; Daniel Edwards, Archie Hughes; Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths, Lewis Lloyd, Kian Hire, Evan Hill, Jonny Green, Ryan Woodman (captain), Lucas De La Rua, Morgan Morse
Replacements: Lewis Morgan, Louis Fletcher, Tomas Pritchard, Mackenzie Martin, Gwilym Evans, Joe Westwood, Harri Wilde, Harri Williams

Australia U20: Harry Mclaughlin-Phillips; Tim Ryan, Henry O’Donnell, David Vaihu, Darby Lancaster; Jack Bowen, Teddy Wilson (captain); Jack Barrett, Liam Bowron, Nick Bloomfield, Toby Macpherson, Daniel Maiava, Lachlan Hooper, Ned Slack-Smith, Leafi Talataina
Replacements: Harrison Usher, Marley Pearce, Trevor King, Ollie McCrea, John Bryant, Klayton Thorn, Mason Gordon, Jackson Ropata

HEAD-TO-HEAD

Played: 4 – Australia leads 3-1
Points for: Wales 71 / Australia 111 (avg. score 18-28)
Highest score: Wales 26 (26-21 on 30 May, 2018) / Australia 38 (38-5 on 13 June, 2009)
Biggest winning margin: Wales 5 (26-21 on 30 May, 2018) / Australia 33 (38-5 on 13 June, 2009)

HEAD-TO-HEAD-NOTES

• Wales and Australia are playing for fifth place for the second time in the history of the World Rugby U20 Championship having done so in 2015 when the Junior Wallabies won 28-23.

• The rest were all pool phase fixtures with Wales winning the last encounter, 26-21 in Béziers in 2018.

• Ioan Nicholas and Joe Goodchild scored first-half tries for Wales in that match and Cai Evans kicked 16 points.

• Current Ireland star Mack Hansen scored the first of Australia’s two tries with Tate McDermott’s effort coming too late to affect the outcome.

• Isaac Lucas converted that try to add to Ryan Lonergan’s three penalties.

• The winning margin in the last three U20 Championship meetings has been seven points or less.