By BEN JAYCOCK
Australia……….. 22pts
Tries: Talataina 30, Craig 40, McLaughlin-Phillips 79
Conversions: Bowen 31, 40
Penalties: Bowen 19
England ……………………. 22pts
Tries: Bracken 4, Cleaves 36, Jibulu 43
Conversions: Slevin 5, 37
Penalties: Slevin 56
England booked a World Rugby U20 Championship semi-final clash against France as the best of the runners-up in the pool stage despite a draw against Australia.
A 34-34 draw against Ireland and a 53-7 thrashing of Fiji was followed up by a mixed display in Stellenbosch that resulted in a semi-final against reigning champions France, after New Zealand fell short of the 66 point winning margin they needed to beat England to the best runner-up spot.
Meanwhile, 2019 runners up Australia are now out of contention for the semi-finals.
England captain Lewis Chessum said: “It’s a tough one. I don’t think we put our pressure game on them enough. Australia kicked very well, put us under a lot of pressure and I don’t think we responded to it as well as we did against Fiji.
“I can’t fault the boys, I’m dead proud of the lads. We stuck together as a group and kept coming back, these boys don’t give up.
“From an attacking point of view we need to be more patient in their 22 as we’ve got some big carriers and we’re strong up front. In defence, these Australian lads chuck themselves about and don’t hold back.
“We spoke about two-man collisions in the second half and to keep our discipline as we gave away a lot of first half penalties for being offside.
“We’ll stick together because you won’t find a tighter group than this England team.”
Australia fly-half Jack Bowen missed touch following an early penalty with a scuffed kick before England 10 Connor Slevin followed suit as both side’s felt the pressure early on in this must win encounter.
England opened the scoring inside four minutes through highly rated scrum-half Charlie Bracken. Sale Sharks prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour made an emphatic break through the middle and his neat offload released Harlequins hooker Nathan Jibulu, who had livewire nine Bracken on his shoulder.
Australia struggled at line out time with 6ft 9inch second row Chessum proving a nuisance in the air.
However following sustained pressure by the Aussies, Chandler Cunningham-South was ruled offside and Australia scored their first points through a penalty by Bowen.
Monstrous no.8 Cunningham-South, at 6 ft 5 and weighing almost 19 stone, responded with a barnstorming carry that blew multiple Australian players back and his bulldozer like carries continued throughout the match.
It was England’s turn to threaten the Aussie try line but resilient Australian defence saw Mapletoft’s side held up.
Australia took the lead on the half hour mark as it was their no.8 Leafi Talataina’s turn to produce a powerful carry of his own and he profited from quick ball to bounce off tackles and score.
Reiketi Ma’asi-White was shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock on but moments later England launched a sensational attack off a scrum.
Mapletoft’s men broke down the right with the excellent Cunningham-South producing a chicken wing offload to Bracken, who kept the attack alive brilliantly and off quick ball athletic winger Cassius Cleaves tiptoed to impressively finish in the far corner.
Harlequins fly-half Slevin converted the try from out wide but Australia’s pack flexed their muscles and retook the lead on the stroke of half time through a driving maul try by hooker Max Craig.
The excellent Cunningham-South was involved instantly in the second half as he picked out Jibulu and the England hooker raced away down the wing to score his second try of the tournament.
England’s bright start to the second stanza continued as Slevin knocked over a further three points to give them a five-point lead.
Australia looked destined to score their third try off a driving maul but heroic defence by England held the ball up and kept their noses in front.
England went down to 14 men for the second time as Cunningham-South went from hero to zero as he was shown a yellow card for a high tackle, and eventually Australia’s pressure told as Harry McLaughlin-Phillips went over off a scrum.
The conversion by Bowen went wide with the scores level with under a minute to play. Australia broke through the middle and Taj Annan looked to score but Sam Harris produced a vital last man try and match saving tackle as the two sides shared the spoils.
“First half we had the wind which definitely helps you but second half was tougher as we were running into it,” said Australia captain Teddy Wilson.
“We knew if we stuck to our processes we’d cause them problems. We had opportunities in the second half but unfortunately we couldn’t get it done in the end. The boys wanted to work hard for each other.
“They had a lot of ball in our 22 and credit to our boys for getting round the corner really fast.”
Teams and Match Details:
AUSTRALIA: Gordon, Ryan, O’Donnell, Annan, Leahy, Bowen, Wilson (c); Barrett, Craig, Bloomfield, Macpherson, Maiava-Tapusoa, Hooper, Baker, Heka Talataina
Replacements: Bowron, Usher, King, McCrea, Bryant, Thorn, McLaughlin-Phillips, Vaihu
ENGLAND: Harris, Cusick, Ma’asi-White, Woodward, Cleaves, Slevin, Bracken; Opoku-Fordjour, Jibulu, Fasogbon, Carnduff, Chessum (c), Michelow, Fisilau, Cunningham-South
Replacements: Theobald-Thomas, McArthur, Halliwell, Browne, Woodman, Thomas, Jenkins, Johnson
Referee: Eoghan Cross
Attendance: 3,011
Star man: Chandler Cunningham-South – England
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