JWC: Australia and France beat Islanders

Story:  www.irb.com
Photo: www.irb.com\Getty Images

Australia has too much firepower for Tonga as France shuts out Fiji in the opening round of Pool B matches in Rovigo on Friday night.

AUSTRALIA 54-7 TONGA

Australia made it three from three against Tonga at the IRB Junior World Championships, running in eight tries in their Pool B opener at the Stadio Mario Battaglini in Rovigo.

Scrum half Matt Lucas started and finished the scoring, crossing for a try after eight minutes and converting inside centre Apo Latunipulu's try near the end.

The victory was the third in as many tournaments for the Aussies over their fellow Oceania outfit, following pool victories in Japan in 2009 and Argentina last year.

The Australians shared the glory, with eight players notching tries, while fly half Ben Volavola had his kicking boots on, landing five conversions from six attempts.

For Tonga, flanker Mathew Harding grabbed their solitary try soon after the restart, and inside centre Pita Ahki added the conversion.

VIEW THE MATCH DETAILS >>

POST-MATCH REACTION

Australia captain Colby Faingaa: “Very pleased, the boys came out and there was a lot of energy and enthusiasm in the first half and we were up 35-0 at half time and the boys just wanted to keep on applying that pressure.

"They key was just being physical. Coming up against any Islander team they are going to be very physical and Tonga brought a lot of physicality to the game today and we just had to match that and then keep applying pressure until we could crack them.”

Tonga captain Mesui Vea: “I think the boys did their best. Even though we lost the game, I am really proud of the boys. The game was a really hard game with Australia, one of the best teams in the world, but we stood up and we played our game.

"The boys don’t really look at this loss as something for us to fall down with. We are just motivated to train harder and play better rugby in the future games we are going to play.”

FRANCE 24-12 FIJI

France completed a solid victory over the Fijians in the later match in Rovigo on Friday.

Tries from prop Sebastien Taofifenua and hooker Clement Bourgeois, plus a penalty try and some accurate kicking from outside centre Jean Pascal Barraque got the job done.

Barraque opened the scoring with a penalty and then converted all three tries.

Fiji failed to score a try but stayed in touch with a penalty from inside centre Solomoni Rasolea in the first half and three more from wing Josateki Lalagavesi in the second.

In Tuesday's second round of pool matches, France will tackle Tonga at the Stadio Plebiscito in Padova after Australia have taken on Fiji at the same venue. 

VIEW THE MATCH DETAILS >>

POST MATCH REACTION

France coach Philippe Boher: "The first and most important things was to win the game so that we can continue on, but we didn't score the bonus point. We wanted to push at the end of the game to score the fourth try but we didn't do that. We have to credit Fiji, they were very strong tonight, very good on defence."

Fiji assistant coach Iliesa Tanivula: "We're disappointed, but we have got to learn from it, France is a Tier 1 nation, we are Tier 2 so it is always an uphill battle, but credit to the boys, the way they came in and gave it all they could. The French had the epxerience and we have just got to take the positives out of it and move on."