JWC - Spoiler - Result Aus v SA - telecast on Fox 1 @ 1.30pm today
Pool A: South Africa 35-42 Australia
(IRB.COM) Sunday 13 June 2010
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http://www.irb.com/mm/Photo/Tourname...840_MEDIUM.jpgDominic Shipperley scored a hat-trick for Australia - Photo: Martin Seras Lima/IRB
Australia edged past South Africa 42-35 in an enthralling end to end affair at the Estadio CA Colon in Santa Fe on Sunday to finish top of Pool C, although both sides will progress to the IRB Junior World Championship semi finals with the Baby Boks as the best runners up.
The crowd of 10,000 was barely able to look away from the action for a minute with chances created out of nothing by sides who had been free-scoring in their previous pool matches against Scotland and Tonga.
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South Africa, who beat Australia 32-5 in the third place play-off in last year's tournament in Japan, were handed the dream start with a second minute penalty, which full back Patrick Lambie made no mistake with.
Australia lost scrum half Justin Turner to a serious looking knee injury minutes later, but were fortunate to be able to bring on Nicolas White, the hat-trick hero in a 67-5 win over Tonga four days earlier.
Even so, they quickly found themselves down 8-0 after as many minutes when half backs Louis Schreuder and Elton Jantjies combined well to send wing Wandile Mjekevu over for the game's opening try.
The start may not have been what Australian coach David Nucifora was hoping for, but he would have been pleased with their resolve, a wonderful breakout and race down the touchline by centre Robbie Coleman resulting in a try for Dominic Shipperley.
Matt Toomua, who toured with the Wallabies last November, kicked the conversion and a penalty to give Australia the lead for the first time, although a knock on by Phoenix Battye proved costly when Jaco Taute raced away with Lambie getting the final touch down.
Once more, though, the classy Coleman single-handedly dragged Australia back into the lead, instantly spotting he had two forwards in front of him and racing through the gap to give Toomua a straightforward conversion to give his side a lead they would never surrender.
Things got even better for Australia when Shipperley picked up his second try, the 19-year-old cutting the perfect line off his wing to slice through the defence with his pace taking him past would-be tacklers to touch down with Toomua's conversion making it 24-13.
South Africa, though, were handed a lifeline with seconds remaining until half time, Australia electing to run the ball out and losing it, allowing prop Marcel van der Merwe to drag three opponents over the line and still turn over to ground the ball.
Within minutes of the restart, Lambie - who played Super 14 rugby for the Sharks this season - cut the deficit to 24-23 with his second penalty, but again Australia hit back with Kimami Sitauti's miss-pass finding Shipperley with only a prop between him and try-line.
Jantjies thought he had scored within minutes, but referee Garratt Williamson ruled that the Baby Boks fly half had lost the ball forward. However it proved only a temporary respite with Lambie drawing the defence before releasing Mjekevu to race over the line.
His second try of the game, allied with Lambie's conversion, brought the Baby Boks back to within a point at 31-30, but Australia would have reasserted their advantage had it not been a for captain CJ Stander's charge to beat Aidan Toua to the grounding.
Australia, though, were not to be denied as Toomua kicked a penalty and then minutes later Ed Quirk touched down his side's fifth try, the flanker having the strength to dot the ball down to make it 39-30 and leave South Africa needing two tries to regain the lead.
They got one of them when replacement Branco du Preez broke through the Australian defence and the impressive Taute managed to ground the ball in the corner, despite Luke Morahan trying to push him into touch first.
Lambie crucially missed the conversion, meaning that Toomua's 77th minute penalty - which took his own haul to 17 points in the match - left South Africa needing a converted try to tie the match. They pushed forward but failed to find it to leave Australia celebrating the win.
Both sides will now relocate to Rosario for the remainder of the tournament, with South Africa to face two-time defending champions New Zealand in one semi final while Australia tackle England in the other on Thursday, 17 June.
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