iRB Under 19 World Championship 2007

[pruc]

*sigh* nope 4th generation west australian. only other countrys i may be eligble for. new zealand but i think im a generation off that and ireland.

[gotheforce]

Yer Burgs. He'll be back soon, if not already back in perth. Playing for Neddies colts as zacko said. Amazing player i have to say. And yeah, he's prob the first Scotch boy to represent another country in rugby.

The Neddies colts look pretty impressive this year. Especially with Barry and the Flyhalf Cameron. Worth keeping an eye on.

[Burgs]

Australian team named for 3rd-4th Playoff at IRB U19 World Championships

April 21, 2007 - 10:36am
Story by: ARU

The Ford Australian Under 19s have announced their line-up for tomorrow morning’s 3rd/4th Playoff clash with Wales at the IRB U19 World Championship in Belfast.

Coach Phil Mooney has brought four new faces into the starting XV as the defending world champions look to respond from their 32-18 semi-final loss to South Africa on Tuesday.

Props Albert Anae and Ben Daley both come off the bench into the starting front-row, while scrumhalf Jason Ryan gets his first start of the tournament.

Andrew Barrett moves from fullback to wing, with Pat McCabe coming in at fullback. Blair Connor, with four tries already in the tournament, will be used as an impact player from the bench.

Coach Mooney said the team will be looking to finish with a flourish after the disappointment of not making the final.

“This playoff match has been difficult to prepare for mentally as the squad is really disappointed not to be in the final and have the opportunity to defend our world crown,” he said.

“Although, we have an opportunity to finish the tournament on a positive note by finishing third and we intend on doing just that.

“We’ve brought in some fresh faces to the starting line-up, including a new front row, as the Welsh are very strong up front and they’ll be eager to claim another big-name scalp at this tournament.”

New Zealand and South Africa will contest the Final at Ravenhill in Belfast, with kick off at 7.30 local time (4:30am Sunday AEST).


2007 iRB Under 19 World Championship (3rd/4th Playoff)

Ford Australian Under 19s v Wales

Saturday 21 April, 5.30pm local (2.30am AEST Sun 22 April), Ravenhill, Belfast

1. Albert Anae
2. James Hanson
3. Ben Daley
4. Sam Wykes (VC)
5. Robert Simmons
6. Ben McCalman
7. Rodney Maa
8. Michael Uoka

9. Jason Ryan
10. Brett Gillespie (C)
11. Alfred Mafi
12. Mitchell Inman
13. Rowan Kellam
14. Andrew Barrett
15. Pat McCabe

16. Daniel Penca
17. Tetera Faulkner
18. Daniel Palmer
19. Adam Campbell
20. Jared Hargreaves
21. Chris Harkins
22. Daniel Robinson
23. Jeremy Sua
24. Blair Connor
25. Peter Betham
26. John Grant

Head Coach – Phil Mooney

Assistant Coach – Mark Bell



The Ford Australian Under 19s program is proudly supported by the Australian Institute of Sport



Australia’s Pool matches

Australia 15 defeated Ireland 10

Australia 23 defeated Fiji 12

Australia 30 defeated France 11



Semi Final

South Africa 32 defeated Australia 18

[Shaun]

GO BOKS!!!!

[Burgs]

Australia 25-21 Wales, third gives some reward

21 APRIL 2007
By Karen Bond, iRB

Defending champions Australia broke Welsh hearts with a second half comeback to triumph 25-21 at Ravenhill and claim third place in the IRB Under 19 World Championship 2007 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Australia had actually enjoyed an early territorial advantage in the match, spending long periods in the Welsh 22. However it was Wales who took the lead against the run of play when Australia captain Brett Gillespie’s kick was charged down by Rhys Webb.

The scrum half gathered the ball and broke down the right wing, slipping the ball inside to centre Tom Williams just as Australian replacement Peter Betham moved in for the tackle on Webb, allowing the supporting Welshman to run in unchallenged.

Leigh Halfpenny kicked the conversion to give Wales a 7-0 lead after 16 minutes, but that advantage proved short-lived as Rob Simmons won the lineout ball and the Australian forwards surged through the parting defence for hooker James Hanson to touch down.

Poor execution

The conversion by Jason Ryan levelled the scores, but another Australian error resulted in a second try for Wales, wing Alfi Mafi on the counterattack choosing the right option to chip the advancing defence, but poor execution left his side badly exposed.

Williams recovered the ball and threw a long pass out to Gareth Owen on the left wing, the fly half having the pace to round Betham and sprint in for the try. Halfpenny held his nerve to slot the conversion after a lengthy delay for running repairs to referee Philip Bosch’s radio pack.

Wales though were not finished, working the ball along their backline for centre Rhys Williams to draw final defender Betham before feeding wing Jimmy Norris to race clear. Halfpenny’s conversion stretched his side’s advantage to a commanding 21-7.

Australia though had the final say in the first half, Ryan kicking a penalty to cut the deficit slightly to 21-10 and keep alive the outgoing champions’ hopes of salvaging some pride by finishing third in the tournament.

They emerged a different side in the second half, clearly benefiting from the words of coach Phil Mooney during the break, but it was Wales who should have stretched their advantage after the usually reliable Halfpenny missed with two penalty attempts.

Welsh heartbreak

Australia’s forwards began to come more to the fore, putting pressure on their opponents with pick and goes committing defenders, allowing the backs to work the ball wide with a missed pass allowing wing Andrew Barrett just enough space to dive over in the corner.

Ryan’s conversion had the direction but fell agonising short, leaving Australia trailing 21-15. However just before the hour mark Australia took the lead for the first time, two breaks by forwards leading to an offload out of a tackle for Mafi to score.

This time Ryan made no mistake with the conversion, scraping it inside the left upright to make it 22-21 to Australia. Wales tried to hit back once more, but they were penalised for hands in the ruck in their own 22, allowing Ryan to kick the penalty.

Wales therefore needed to score a try if they were to win it, but try as they did to run the ball from deep, it was left to Betham to fire the ball into touch with time up on the clock and Australia to celebrate what had seemed an unlikely victory in the first half.

QUOTES

Australia coach Phil Mooney: "It was admirable the way we showed composure to come back from 21-10 down at half time. We obviously had to play a little bit of catch up. Importantly from our point of view, they were tries that we gifted them. We felt even we were behind on the scoreboard, we were still playing reasonably well. In the second half we completely dominated in the forwards and we were justly rewarded with the result in the end.

"All the Southern Hemisphere sides come in with nine days preparation and sometimes the opening games are against the unknown, but we have played some quality rugby and come out on the right end of close games. I am pleased with the way the boys have worked throughout the tournament and stuck at it."

Australia captain Brett Gillespie: "It was close enough, but I really enjoyed it. I think we made a few mistakes early on and gave them a bit of a start. But we put some pressure on them and got some points ourselves. Our forward pack really dominated in the second half and we were quite good in the backs as well, so it was generally satisfying.

Australia wing and try scorer Alfi Mafi: "I enjoyed it, the game was good and it was good to be a scorer. It is good to have finished third."

Wales captain Sam Warburton: "Our first half performance was fantastic. We were leading 21-10 against a quality side at the break. We said at the interval we had to keep our composure and stick to our game plan, but once it started to slip away from us Australia started to take their chances.

"And that was the difference in the first half. We took our chances in the first half, but did not in the second and they took their opportunities and went on to come out on top. We were probably the only people who were not surprised by the way we performed in the tournament and while third place in the world would have been ideal, fourth is not bad."

Wales fly half Gareth Owens: "We had really come on a lot since the opening day's defeat by New Zealand. In many ways that was an eye-opener for us. It was good experience too and it was important for us to learn from it and move on, which we did. The backline was quite precise today. We spent a lot of time analysing Australia and we knew where to attack them."

[Burgs]

Italy beat Canada to win IRB U19 Division B

20 APRIL 2007

Italy have been crowned Division B champions at the IRB Under 19 World Championship 2007, after defeating Canada 22-3 at Shaw's Bridge in Belfast.

Italy captain Alberto Chiesa got his side off to the perfect start with a try after 10 minutes, Riccardo Bocchino adding the conversion to put Italy ahead 7-0. Nathan Hirayama pulled three points back for Canada with a penalty after 15 minutes, but Bocchino restored the seven-point lead with a penalty before half time.

USA claim third

USA completed a highly successful campaign by claiming third place with a 24-5 victory over Georgia at Gibson Park, Bangor. Full back Hamish Roberts scored 14 of USA's points, taking his tournament tally to 39.

Battle royal for fifth

Tonga and Uruguay enjoyed a titanic battle for fifth at Queen's Belfast, which the Pacific islanders eventually won 24-15. Tonga were 12-10 ahead at half time, but Edgardo Benitez's try edged Uruguay 15-12 ahead 15 minutes into the second half. Salesi Sete scored Tonga's third try sevens minutes from full time to retake the lead, before Tone Tukufuka added another late on to secure fifth place for Tonga.

Zimbabwe secure seventh

Rangarirai Zembe scored two tries for Zimbabwe in the first half of their seventh place play-off against Chile at Gibson Park, Malone, helping his side to a 12-3 half-time lead. Centre Francisco González, who scored all of Chile's points, responded with a try in the second half, but Zimbabwe hung on to win 12-10.

Romania recorded their second successive tournament victory, this time 20-10 over Russia at Queen's Belfast, to secure ninth place overall.

Chinese Taipei scored three first-half tries against Cook Islands in the battle for 11th place at Gibson Park, Malone. Roney Maui did pull one back for Cook Islands midway through the second half, but it was not enough as Chinese Taipei recorded a 29-10 victory.

[Burgs]

South Africa 7-31 New Zealand

21 APRIL 2007
By Karen Bond, iRB

New Zealand nullified the powerful South African pack with a mouth-watering display of attacking rugby to triumph 31-7 at Ravenhill to reclaim the IRB Under 19 World Championship crown they last won in 2004.

The final began at a frenetic pace with New Zealand clearly fired up after their performance of the Haka and determined to avoid a third successive IRB Under 19 World Championship runners-up medal.

New Zealand’s high intensity level was rewarded with two tries in the opening seven minutes to stun the 2005 champions, the first from Robert Fruean after good work from Zach Guildford enabled the centre to find the gap in the South African defence.

Trent Renata saw his conversion drift wide of the uprights, but the full back made no mistake with his second from in front of the posts minutes later to convert his own try after a flowing backline move with angled runs involving him, Guildford and Fruean.

Horror injury

Their momentum was halted by a sickening injury to centre Ryan Crotty, which held up play for several minutes and silenced the 11,165 crowd. Crotty fell awkwardly in the tackle, his left ankle collapsing under him as he screamed out in pain on the floor.

Crotty departed on a stretcher with a few words from captain Chris Smith and the desire to win the title for their injured teammate seemed a heavy burden at times, although a fantastic break by flanker Peter Saili saw him stopped five metres shot.

Fruean turned from try scorer to villain in the 31st minute when the centre was sin-binned by referee James Jones for a late swinging arm on full back Wilton Pietersen, but he left the field trying to encourage his teammates to remain strong while a man down.

A sublime cross-field kick by Renata bounced perfectly for Kade Poki, the wing’s chip taken into touch by South African fly half Francois Brummer.

Minutes later hooker Ash Dixon came close to scoring, but the television match official Julian Pritchard was unable to determine that the ball had been touched down.

Captain blow

However, New Zealand did not have long to wait for their third try, a perfectly timed cross-field kick from fly half Daniel Kirkpatrick being caught and touched down by the diving Poki for his sixth try of the tournament.

Renata missed the conversion, but 14-man New Zealand still went in leading 17-0 at half time and South Africa needing a dramatic turnaround in fortunes after the break if they were to reclaim the title they won on home soil in 2005.

The loss of their inspirational captain Gerrit van Velze at half time did not help South Africa’s cause, neither did a missed penalty by centre Stefan Watermeyer in the opening minutes of the second half.

Instead it was New Zealand that scored the first points of the second half, a wonderful dummied pass inside to Renata by hooker Dixon fooling the defence and allowing him to charge for the line, before slipping the pass inside to the supporting Renata to score.

Fighting to the finish

The full back converted his own score once more and the dominant Baby Blacks continued to attack at will, running the ball from deep in their own half with great potency and punching holes in the South African defence time and time again.

Their play was rewarded when Jackson Willison, the replacement for the injured Crotty, scythed through a gaping hole in the defence to score New Zealand’s fifth try after the pass from Renata, who converted to leave his side leading 31-0.

South Africa, though, refused to simply fold and finished strongly, Van Velze’s replacement Yaasir Hartzenberg using every ounce of his strength to power over the line after a break by Pietersen. Watermeyer then duly curled his conversion inside the posts.

Much of the final 10 minutes was spent in the New Zealand half with South African forwards battering the defence, but despite wave after wave of pressure, the Baby Blacks refused to allow their try line to be breached for a second time.

QUOTES

New Zealand coach Kieran Crowley: “I thought our defence was outstanding and there were a lot of big hits out there tonight. You have to take your opportunities and we did take a couple at the start, but there were also a few we did not take. I just think the guys kept at it and kept to their game structure fairly well.

“Two early tries was a good start. If you get dominance early, you keep it on the throat and things come. We were probably a little guilty in previous games of taking the foot of the throttle and letting other teams get back into it.

“Tonight we kept the pressure on and it stood us in good stead. Getting the third try when a man down was important, but it was our defence who made that with a turnover. The boys really dug deep in that 10-minute period.

“We are delighted. There is a lot of hard work goes into this and we are probably the lucky ones to be here on stage, there are a lot of managers and trainers back home in New Zealand who have put a lot of work into this.

“The victory certainly did not come easily. South Africa are a big team, and we had a good look at them before. We knew if we could cut out their big runners then we could weaken them.”

New Zealand captain Chris Smith: “It means a lot to be the captain of the World Cup winning side. I was on a losing side last year and know what that felt like, and it was an experience I wanted to forget.

“To win tonight, and also so resoundingly, was just fantastic. The boys gave everything tonight and we really played as a team. At the same time we have to give credit to South Africa because that was a hard final. That was a real brutal encounter up front. We said we had to take them on and we did.

“I am not the only leader in there. We have a number of leaders; someone is a captain of something. That was what reflected the scorecard so well. Everyone took responsibility, everyone did their job and it came together.”

New Zealand prop Ben Afeaki: “We went through our patterns well tonight, but we were able to mess them up quite well in the pack. It was a good encounter and I think everyone enjoyed it.

“We did not expect to go out and win because being in a final anything can happen and we just had to make sure we did our bits right, which we did. It was a hard game and that is not reflected in the scoreline.

“Our physio and doctor do a lot of work with us after matches and that is one of the reasons why we won tonight.”

South Africa captain Gerrit van Velze: “It is not fun to be runners-up and when you get into occasions like finals you do not dream of being second. You have to take all the positives out of it, do not let your heart go down and take all something from the experiences you have gained.

“We made it difficult for ourselves to win by conceding two early tries and we had a tough game to come back in. We let ourselves down in the beginning, although we did battle back well.

“We probably played into their strengths at times and in the first half we almost just gave it to them so they could run at us. It was hard to defend and the holes eventually opened.

“When you pull a Bok jersey over your head you are always proud and even in defeat we will all be keeping our heads high. You learn more from one defeat than 100 victories, I am still proud of the boys and we will stay mates forever.”

South Africa coach Eric Sauls: “I still think we were dominant in certain phases, but we played to stereotype and tried to drive, drive, drive all the time. We missed two tackles early on and they were able to score against the run of play. We never gave ourselves an opportunity to play.

“In the second half we came back a little bit. I wanted to play a game where we slowed the ball and try and suck them in and we just lost too many balls, we allowed them to play wide and they migrated to the rucks.

“New Zealand are a brilliant team and if you allow them space and time they will punish you for it. It is difficult to play against a team that has so much talent right across the team. They have running pace, coming hard onto the ball and you have to cover it. If you do not, you will have difficult stopping them and we did tonight.

“The boys can learn from this defeat, and they can still be proud of what they have done.”

[Burgs]

New Zealand 2007 IRB U19 champions

21 APRIL 2007

New Zealand have been crowned IRB Under 19 World Champions 2007, defeating South Africa 31-7 in the final at Ravenhill, Belfast.

Robert Fruean, Trent Renata and Kade Poki each scored tries in a devastating first-half performance, which gave New Zealand a 17-0 lead at the break.

If South Africa were hoping New Zealand would allow them back into the game in the second half, they were disappointed as their opponents continued their imperious march to the title.

Renata added a second try soon after half time before substitute Jackson Willison added another to extend New Zealand's lead to 31-0.

South Africa were determined to make their mark on the final and were rewarded for a long period of pressure inside the New Zealand 22 with a try for Yaasir Hartzenberg, to leave the final score 31-7 to New Zealand.

Australia break Welsh hearts

Defending champions Australia produced a remarkable second-half comeback to claim third place over Wales. Trailing 21-10 at the break, Andrew Barrett and Alfi Mafi scored the tries that saw Australia claw back to within one point with 12 minutes remaining. Jason Ryan added a conversion and a late penalty to seal a 25-21 victory.

France outclass England

France made it four wins out of five with a comprehensive 43-17 victory over England at Shaw's Bridge, securing fifth place in the process. France fly half Mathieu Belie scored 17 of his side's points, including a try after just three minutes.

Samoa hold on against Argentina

Samoa claimed seventh place after an heroic second-half defensive performance against Argentina at Shaw's Bridge. Atenai Aii's try two minutes into the second half gave them a 13-8 cushion and they held out until four minutes from time, when Facundo Corimayo pulled Argentina to within a point.

Ignacio Poet Belmonte had the chance to edge Argentina ahead, but he was unable to kick the conversion as Samoa held on 13-12.

Hosts finish in style

Ireland gave the home fans plenty to shout about at Ravenhill as they outclassed Scotland 34-0 to secure ninth place.

Fiji too strong for Japan

Henry Speight scored a hat trick of tries as Fiji defeated Japan 60-12 in the battle for 11th.

Chile win Fair Play Award

Chile claimed the John McCall Fair Play Award for their performances during the tournament. The award was presented to Chile captain Benjamin Del Solar by John McCall's parents, whose son tragically died during an IRB Under 19 World Championship match in 2004.

[Burgs]

Congratulations to New Zealand for taking out the 2007 Title.
A great effort by Australia with only one loss to the eventual Runners Up, South Africa, to see the boys come third.
Due to the huge injury toll in NSW & Qld the eligible Quade Cooper, Will Genia and Kurtley Beale were unavailable.
Likewise, David Pocock was busy playing with the "big boys".
From the Reds Academy, Luke Evans & Junior Sovala were eligible but overlooked, with five others (plus Genia) selected.
From the Force Academy all of our eligible players were overlooked: Tim Carslaw, Angus Neilson, Brendan O’Dea, Adam Scari, Cole Unasa & Darren Van Wyk.
I can't find listings for the other two Academy Squads.
Although Junior records don't really make the man, it is especially unfortunate for Beale who with an early '89 birthdate could have followed up his equal record 9 Australian Schoolboys Caps with two years in the Under 19's!

A footnote, not sure if this a reflection on the players, officials or both however, I would think that a combined 44 Yellow Cards and 5 Red Cards would be fairly excessive for a single Tournament!?