Australia kicked off their World Rugby Under-20 Championship campaign at Manchester in the worst possible manner, being upset by Scotland 15-10.
Centre Campbell Magnay was sent off in the 44th minute after being yellow-carded in each half for spear tackles, and the Aussies fell behind after taking a 7-3 halftime lead. The first was fair, but the second was questionable.
In many ways it was a similar game to the one Scotland lost to the Wallabies in last year’s World Cup quarter-finals – the Aussie backs were dangerous, cutting the Scottish defence apart at times, but unable to finish moves off and deliver a telling blow.
It was another spirited Scottish performance, although this time in the unlikely Lancashire sun and not the rain-sodden turf of Twickenham.
Scotland forced mistakes and stole breakdown ball, turning the green and gold over at the scrum, and would not back down.
Every time Australia looked like scoring, Scotland would steal the ball at the ruck and harry the Antipodeans into an error. With Italy and England to come, this was a learning curve for the Aussies.
Magnay’s red card opened the game up for the men in tartan. Scottish prop Zander Fagerson burrowed over for a try soon after and they were in front 8-7, their first lead.
A man down, the Aussies looked sunk, but slowly started to maintain possession and in the 55th minute their pressure paid off as Mack Mason nailed a penalty goal and they had a slender 10-8 lead.
Scotland kept probing though, and swung the ball wide to find the overlap. Australian coach Adrian Thompson went to his bench and wrecking ball Robert Leota came on, making an immediate impact.
It was end-to-end stuff, with offloads aplenty and the pace of the game quickening significantly – neither side would die wondering as gameplans went out the window. The momentum switched from team to team, often at the whistle of referee Thomas Charabas.
An innocuous kick from Australia’s fly-half Mason was returned with interest by Scotland’s Darcy Graham, as the lighting quick winger beat Mason’s chase and danced around some lazy forwards to score a brilliant try, handing the Bravehearts a five-point buffer with 15 minutes on the clock.
Australia mounted a late charge but knock-ons, and some determined Scottish tackling kept them at bay.
Australia looked to have bagged a match-winning try in the 75th minute, when winger Simon Kennewell forced his way over in the right corner, he connected with the sideline with the slightest of touches and it was chalked off by the TMO.
Australia only have themselves to blame. They had the opportunities to win the game but simple mistakes let them down. To go as close as they did for so long with 14 men was brave, but credit goes to Scotland for their own gutsy and committed performance.
The Aussie Under-20s will need to win their remaining two games – a huge ask against England in England in their third pool fixture – to have any hope of progressing further in this tournament.
Australia have struggled in this junior competition since it launched in 2008. Their best finish was reaching a final in 2010 and last year a fifth-placed finish. Hopes were higher in 2016 after a restructure of the national pathways and a recent win over the Baby Blacks, plus the introduction of the local Super Under-20s competition.
Those hopes remain in limbo after a sobering afternoon in Manchester.
Follow John Davidson on Twitter @johnnyddavidson
atlas
Guest
Disciplinary hearing: Campbell Magnay (Australia) – two-match suspension Australia outside-centre Campbell Magnay was sent off following two yellow cards for offences contrary Law 10.4(j) (lifting a player from the ground) and Law 10.4(e) (dangerous tackling) in the U20 Championship match against Scotland on 7 June, 2016 Campbell Magnay is suspended for two U20 Championship matches (11 and 15 June, respectively) and is free to resume playing on 16 June, 2016.
Boz the Younger
Guest
From what I've seen at the Reds this year, yes. He has excellent speed, power and ball skills, all the attributes of a great 13, but spends most of his game in the ruck like a 6. He is still young but the coaches need to get onto him, to get across what his real job is.
jameswm
Roar Guru
Bakkies - sure game management is a problem. Game smarts I would call it. But the coaching is a much, much bigger problem. Game management can improve over a few games or a season. Those fundamental skills take years to perfect.
Harry Jones
Expert
Carlos, only one side of the stadiums are full; they try to get them all on one side. It'll fill up more later, in the KO rounds. A lot of family and so forth.
Carlos the Argie
Roar Guru
I just watch the matches on TV and most times, they stadiums appear mostly empty.
Harvey
Guest
Just reporting from what i saw at both games.
Colin N
Guest
Interestingly, tickets for the games at the Academy Stadium were very hard to come by so it seems as though they were only selling tickets for one side of the ground. Tickets for Saturday at the same stadium are also sold out apparently.
TB
Guest
Yup we have tended to play dumb rugby trying to give it to our X factor players to win matches instead of grinding it out as team. Current side from the WC is an exception.
atlas
Guest
Results from Day One FRANCE U20 15 - 24 ARGENTINA U20 SOUTH AFRICA U20 59 - 19 JAPAN U20 AUSTRALIA U20 10 - 15 SCOTLAND U20 WALES U20 25 - 26 IRELAND U20 NEW ZEALAND U20 55 - 0 GEORGIA U20 ENGLAND U20 48 - 10 ITALY U20 Fixtures and results here: http://www.worldrugby.org/u20/fixtures
atlas
Guest
Of course, and nothing like this comments few posts down: "Fair game to the scots for winning but at the end of the day it was more us giving them the win then the scots having to win it."
stillmissit
Roar Guru
Jameswm: Agree, but my biggest gripe was with the halfback. He was looking around all the time, pointing and handing out instructions rather than focussing on the ball. His pointing at where he was going to pass the ball was so predictable that the Scots only had to line them up and knock them over. His work with the 5/8 was poor and predictable, I don't think he took a run around the fringes all game. Magnay should have been the best on the pitch but how brain dead was he? Can't he read? I also thought they went into the game expecting to win easy, a trait that shows itself time and again and not just in junior rugby. If your half, 5/8 are average then the rest doesn't matter much.
Geoff Parkes
Expert
Sure it's selective but it's not biased. South Africa beats Japan = not much of a story, that's what everyone expects Japan does something good against rugby superpower (any of) SA/Aust/NZ = a bit of romance and a story
Bakkies
Guest
'This has to be a financial embarrassment and a PR disaster for World Rugby. I cannot believe it, or maybe it is the mid week matches, but there appears to be very few people interested in this tournament.' Can't blame it on Manchester. The NZ tournament had appalling crowds even in the NZ v SA semi. In comparison the SA v NZ Final in Cape Town pulled in 33,000. The tournament in France was pretty well organised. As for television coverage Sky Sports are televising all the matches in the UK and Ireland. All the Irish matches are on TG 4 terrestrial tv and get good media coverage on the radio and newspapers.
Bakkies
Guest
and you have the ARU CEO going on record boasting about only 2 penalties kicked in the NRC. Utter nonsense Bill it's the basics of Rugby and as the pressure gets higher these players coming through won't be used to making those clutch kicks in tense situations. Andy Robinson had his Bristol side playing that way in the Championship two seasons ago, constantly kicking to the corners rather than taking shots at goal. When it come to taking those points in the Final against London Welsh his kickers couldn't handle it as they had barely kicked one all season.
Antoni
Guest
Of course, because no Australian team ever earns or deserves a win against any NZ team, there is always a 'reason' why they were lucky, favoured or something.
Carlos the Argie
Roar Guru
I am sorry that this is not directly related to the AUS match, which I haven't seen yet. But: I have seen the baby Blacks, the France-Argentina match and half of Wales-Ireland and the one thing that absolutely shocks me is how few spectators there are at the matches. This has to be a financial embarrassment and a PR disaster for World Rugby. I cannot believe it, or maybe it is the mid week matches, but there appears to be very few people interested in this tournament. Somehow, World Rugby has to seriously rethink the entire organization and promotion of this tournament. This is class rugby, though there are many errors, and with many exciting plays and players. This should be a great opportunity to showcase future raw talent. Why is this so bad?
Suzy Poison
Guest
Allanthus, My issue is with the wording of "perilously close" to describe a 40 point victory. The full game is viewable on You Tube, plus the 8 tries scored the Boks, including the two by Zain David's which were actually much better efforts than the Lomu youngster. (the last of which was scored against 14 men) It's selective reporting, and it's baised against South African rugby, but no surprise really.
dru
Roar Rookie
Dwyer is a bloke who just irritates me. But I have to accept what you are saying. Why isnt he involved with the pathways and u20s setups?
TB
Guest
I second that motion, game management in Aus rugby has been woefull for at least a decade.
Brizvegas
Guest
Looks like basis to ask pulver questions