Uruguay scoop Junior World Rugby Trophy

Monday 28th April 2008

Uruguay have been crowned the inaugural IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy champions after coming from behind to beat host nation Chile 20-8 in the final at the Stade Français Club in Santiago on Sunday.

The early exchanges between the two teams, dominated by ferocious tackling and peppered with unforced errors, reflected the anxiety and emotion of the 30 players.

Overall it was a clash of the equals - two teams of similar size, similar desire to win, know-how and levels of skill who knew each other well, having met frequently at various age groups in a South American or international context.

The difference was clearly in the will to win of the Uruguayans - arguably the most complete Under-20 team in the tournament - as well as in their ability to master their own mistakes and control the set piece department.

With Chile frenetically supported by a partisan crowd of up to 7,000 spectators and scoring early the Uruguayans had to apply themselves to the task to be able to turn the game around and emerge victorious in the end.

Chile moved into an 8-0 lead following an early penalty from fly half Francisco González and an unconverted try by their gifted inside centre Ricardo Sifri. Sadly the try was the first and last sample of the potential of the Chile back division expected to do the talking on the day.

From that moment on Uruguay raised the pace of their game and their forwards tore into the Chileans with relish, which led a few minutes later to their first try with their huge lock Diego Magno at the scoring end of a ferocious Uruguayan drive. Fly half Germán Albanell converted for a half-time score of 8-7.

In the second half Uruguay piled on the pressure and Chile began to crumble. Their scrummage found itself shunted at every ball and although they managed to retain possession due to the savvy ability of their number eight and captain Benjamín del Solar, the quality of the ball was nevertheless poor and prevented the Chilean backs from mounting any meaningful attack.

The situation was duplicated in the lineout, where the Uruguayans attacked every Chilean throw and managed to steal some significant balls when the host nation were attacking.

Chile managed to hang on to the slender one-point margin until some 20 minutes into the second half when a drop goal by Albanell took Los Teritos into the lead for the first time.

Uruguay never looked back and with their ferociously competitive back row of the outstanding Juan Diego Ormaechea, captain Matías Fonseca and Juan Manuel Gaminara roaming the field they managed to take control of the proceedings.

A penalty from centre Geronimo Etcheverry rewarded their efforts and then, to add insult to injury, in the closing stages Albanell crashed over a bouncing ball fumbled by the Chilean defenders in the in goal on the left and converted his own try to take his personal tally to 12 points in the final and extend Uruguay's lead to 20-8.

Uruguay's victory means they not only get their hands on the inaugural trophy but also secure promotion to the IRB Junior World Championship in 2009 at the expense of the nation finishing bottom of that tournament in Wales this June.

Meanwhile, Georgia made sure they exited the tournament by producing their best performance to beat Romania 34-10 in the third place play-off on Sunday.

Georgia were very effective in the backs - all five tries came from them - and strong up front at the Stade Français Club in Santiago, while also denying the Romanians many opportunities to get on the scoreboard after they had taken the lead with a first minute penalty by their fly half Alin Georgescu.

In fact 54 minutes elapsed before Romania added to that early penalty, by which time Georgia were in complete control of the match having scored four tries to stretch their half time advantage of 10-3 into a comfortable 27-3 lead.

Georgia's first two tries came in the 10 minutes before half time through wing Alexandre Tuchashvili and full back Vakhtang Kavtidze. They didn't have long to wait for a third try, Tuchashvili claiming his second of the match after running along the line and evading the Romanian defence.

Replacement Goderdzi Joglidze kicked the conversion and added a penalty soon afterwards before fly half Lasha Khmaladze scored Georgia's fourth try in the 52nd minute to all but wrap up the bittersweet victory for the Georgians who had come to Chile with the goal of winning the inaugural title.

Romania did cut the deficit when full back Robert Topala scored and then converted his own try, but Georgia had the final say in the match with a fifth try from their backline through scrum half Giorgi Rokhvadze in the 69th minute, converted again by Joglidze, who finished leading point scorer in the tournament.

Namibia won the play-off for fifth place 36-29, although it was Korea who made the fans' day.

The Koreans started the match in a confident mood and it was quite clear from the early exchanges that they would provide Namibia, the favourites, with a tough challenge. While the Korean ball control improved in leaps and bounds from the outset of the tournament and to a large extent secured the continuity of their attacks, it was the slick passing and the timed release of the ball in the tackle that kept them going.

After a few minutes of frantic action, Korea scored the first try following a textbook move with the forwards driving from a lineout on the right. It was continued by the resourceful wing forward Kim Ji Woong, who broke off from the back of the driving maul with the ball in hand, then followed by a swift attack on the open side involving the live-wire scrum half Park Sung Jun and centre Lee Sung Beom, who eventually put left wing Kim Gwong Min through for the opening try.

The Korean score acted as a wake-up call for the Namibians, who had showed only glimpses of the class displayed in their previous matches, and somehow Murray Hugo followed through a move which seem destined to stall into the line-out and go over for Namibia's opening try.

For most of the first half played at a frantic pace, the scores followed a similar pattern, with the Koreans making a break only for Namibia to bounce back from the abyss. The second Korean try was scored in a similar fashion by their influential number eight Kim Hyun Soo, only for Namibia's omnipresent scrum-half Ashley Tjombe to reply, a try converted by Shawn Kaizemi.

The intensity of the first half an hour left the Korean forwards out of breath and the Namibians promptly capitalised by scoring a fine individual try through their full-back Robert Herridge, duly converted by Kaizemi.

After half-time, Namibia, dynamised by a passionate half-time plea from coach Eden Meyer, sprang into action. Dynamic hooker Theo Coetzee and Herridge with his second touche down early in the second half and it looked as if their side had the measure of their opponents.

But obviously they misjudged the mood of the Koreans who rallied around their captain Lee Chang Suk and responded in style with a try through their lock forward Mun Ho Jun, converted by right wing In Seo In Soo.

The match maintained the furious pace at the start of the second half when Kaizemi cut through a strangely lethargic Korean defence to score Namibia's fifth try.

This was the moment the Koreans surprised both their opponents and the public and bounced back into attack with a vengeance.

Two quick tries by the enormously powerful loose head Shin Young Jin and the remarkably assertive number eight Kim Hyun Soo brought Korea back within a converted try.

For the following 15 minutes the Koreans camped into the Namibian 22, but a combination of gallant Namibian defence and unforced errors in attack doomed their better efforts. On one occasion it looked as if they had scored a try when their scrum-half Park Sung Jun dived over from a ruck near the line, but Romanian referee Horatiu Bargaunas disallowed it for an earlier offence.

It was a match Korea could and should have won, having improved from their shaky debut against Uruguay two weeks ago in every area of the game. Namibia, on the other hand, confirmed their raising status in the game and, with many of their squad still available next year, they will be a difficult side to beat in the next JWRT.

Cook Islands ended their participation with a satisfying 54-15 win against Jamaica to finish in seventh place.

Their win was based on their attacking qualities yet lacked some of the glow because of the defensive attitude of the plucky Jamaicans who would simply not lie down. They tackled throughout the game and if beaten it was due to either the strength or superior skills of the Cook Islanders.

Both teams can return home in the knowledge that their tournament has ended with them showing some bits of good rugby.

Although Cook Islands scored nine tries, Jamaica managed to score twice, much to their team and the spectators' delight.

Their celebration of the second try by Kenneth Walker - who benefited from a recovered ball and good running from team mate Fabian Atkinson - was a highlight of the match.

Whilst the players from the Pacific dominated the scrums, the line-outs were a far more even set piece, with the boys from the Caribbean stealing a few of the opposition's ball.

Overall, both teams enjoyed the occasion and the spectators who ventured in early enjoyed a game that was far from being technically perfect but with the way both teams threw the ball around ensured it was a most enjoyable occasion.

With thanks to the IRB