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Australia lose to Scotland in U20's, finish sixth at Rugby World Championship

18th June, 2017
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Australia have finished sixth at the under-20s rugby world championships after losing their final match to Scotland in Georgia.

A day after the Wallabies were upset by Scotland in Sydney, the Scots made it two-from-two for the weekend by winning the fifth-place play-off 24-17 at Avchala Stadium in Tbilisi on Sunday.

Australia led 10-3 at halftime thanks to a converted try and penalty by halfback Harrison Goddard, who crossed in the 24th minute on the back of a strong run by Queensland Reds flyer Izaia Perese.

Scotland levelled scores soon after the break when Australian winger Semisi Tupou dropped an intercept, allowing Blair Kinghorn to break away before offloading to Robbie Nairn for the try.

The Scots dominated territory for much of the second half and reserve halfback Charlie Shiel stretched over for a five-pointer after 56 minutes.

Melbourne Rebels player Goddard hit back with his second converted try two minutes later with a 50-metre run after collecting the crumbs of a bomb to level the scores at 17-all.

But Shiel sealed the Scotland win by slicing through the defence off the back of a scrum 10m out from the Austalian try-line in the final minute.

Earlier in the tournament, Australia had beaten Wales and Samoa in the pool stage before losing to England.

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They beat Italy 42-19 in the fifth-place semi-final.

New Zealand won the title after thumping England 64-17 in the final, while South Africa beat France 37-15 in the third-place match.

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