BMW Australia U20s starts 2017 with a win
The BMW Australia U20s have defeated Samoa U20s in round one of the Oceania Rugby U20s Championship 43-20 at Bond University on the Gold Coast on Friday night.
Infrequently wet and windy conditions Australia scored seven tries to two as they dominated their pacific rivals.
Despite the 23-point margin, BMW Australia U20s Head Coach, Simon Cron wants to see further improvement from his young charges: “I’d say it was a 40 percenter but it was our first game so we are going to be a bit rusty in terms of adapting structures and patterns.
“I felt like we went into our shell a little bit there, too many drop balls for my liking. A little bit of rain is no excuse.
“We’ll give guys game time and we have to treat these games as trials to a degree. We have to play to our structures and make sure we see everyone play. We have to make selections for Georgia from this tournament and we have to make sure we get it right.”
Australia started the match well with a try through James Ramm in the opening ten minutes as the Aussie U20s opened their 2017 campaign at home. The lead was short-lived as Samoa came back quickly to score through Fred Filipo and level the scores.
Australia started to build pressure and eventually were able to score their second try off a loose pass by Samoa as they looked to move the ball too quickly leaving Len Ikatau an open run to the try line.
Samoa kept in touch through the boot of fullback Ricky Ene who kicked a penalty in the windy conditions to narrow the gap to 12-10.
Scrumhalf, Ryan Lonergan continued his attacking snipes around the ruck and eventually was rewarded with a try of his own in the 23rd minute. On the cusp of half-time, Angus Scott-Young made a barnstorming run through several Samoan covering tackles to score and give Australia U20s a 24-10 lead at the break.
In the second half, the conditions worsened at Bond University, but Australia U20s continued to attack Samoa and were rewarded in the 46th minute with a try to Harry Johnson-Holmes taking the score to 31-10.
Samoa again kept in touch through the boot of Ricky Ene but a try to captain Reece Hewat took Australia’s lead to 38-13.
Australia scored a try to take the game out of range as Efitusi Maafu broke through a channel of Samoan forwards to cross the white line in the corner and move the scoreboard to 43-13. A late try by Samoa in the 80th minute added some respectability to the scoreboard taking the match to 43-20.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
8 mins: James Ramm try, Ryan Lonergan con AUS 7-0 SAM
13 mins: Fred Filipo try, Ricky Ene con AUS 7-7 SAM
15 mins: Len Ikatau try AUS 12-7 SAM
19 mins: Ricky Ene pen, AUS 12-10 SAM
23 mins: Ryan Lonergan try, Ryan Lonergan con AUS 19-10 SAM
41 mins: Angus Scott-Young try AUS 24-10 SAM
HALF TIME
46 mins: Harry Johnson-Holmes try, Ryan Lonergan con AUS 31-10 SAM
50 mins: Ricky Ene pen AUS 31-13 SAM
51 mins: Reece Hewat try, Ryan Lonergan con AUS 38-13 SAM
67 mins: Efitusi Maafu try AUS 43-13 SAM
80 mins: Telea Tanielu try AUS 43-20 SAM
Australia U20s 43 (James Ramm, Len Ikatau, Ryan Lonergan, Angus Scott-Young, Harry Johnson-Holmes, Reece Hewat, Efitusi Maafu tries; Ryan Lonergan 4 cons;) defeated Samoa U20s 20 (Fred Filipo, Telea Tanielu tries; Ricky Ene 2 cons; Ricky Ene 2 pens)
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