Played under blue skies at the Harare Sports Club, the opening round of matches at World Rugby U20 Trophy 2016 produced no less than 39 tries and 302 points and wins for Namibia, Spain, Fiji and Samoa.
USA 44 46 NAMIBIA
USA captain Hanco Germishuys’ hat trick was in vain as Namibia snatched victory in a riotous game of running rugby that was settled deep into stoppage time.
The Junior All Americans looked on course to repeat their narrow Trophy win over the Namibians in 2009 until replacement Stiaan van der Merwe levelled the scores with his side’s nbsp;sixth try and Cliven Loubser kicked the all important conversion.
Only once before (Zimbabwe in 2012) nbsp;has a team scored so many points and lost an U20 Trophy fixture, although that game was played under the five points for a try ruling not the six point system being trialled nbsp;in the World Rugby U20 Trophy.
The lead changed hands three times in a breathless opening 25 minutes as USA scored three tries to Namibia’s two to lead 22 16.
The score remained that way until half time but it wasn’t long before the points came thick and fast again after the break, Germishuys grabbing his second within a minute of the restart.
Namibia worked some space for winger Unomasa Kavita to score another but the blue shirted Americans came up with a quick response as Germishuys completed his hat trick to make the scoreline 34 24 with 54 minutes gone.
Back came Namibia again with a try under the posts for second row Johan Luttig, which Loubser converted.
The match continued to sway one way and then the other, with a close range try for USA flanker Mahon Al Jiboori cancelled out by Gino Wilson, who finished well in the corner after a long period of pressure inside the USA 22.
Even so, the Americans nbsp;still led by four and they improved that advantage further when replacement kicker Roddy Giles knocked over a penalty from 30 metres after Namibia strayed offside at the breakdown.
The USA were nbsp;penalised twice for going off their feet as they attempted to run the clock down and a quick tap provided the launchpad for Namibia to play their get out of jail card. Luttig made good yards with a run inside the USA nbsp;22 before the ball was quickly recycled and swung right. Allie Emamdien found the onrushing Van der Merwe with a well timed pass and there was no stopping him from 20 metres out, Loubser adding the simplest of conversions from in front of the posts to seal a dramatic victory.
SPAIN 44 8 HONG KONG
Tournament debutants Spain made an impressive start to life at this level by despatching Hong Kong nbsp;44 8.
Using their driving maul to good effect, Spain were on the front foot for the majority of the contest and outscored Hong Kong six tries to one.
Early tries from wingers Jordi Jorba Jorge and Samual Parry saw Spain race into a 14 0 lead by the end of the first quarter.
Determined defence, led by tough tackling full back Liam Owens, kept the Spanish at bay for the next 15 minutes until captain and tight head Jon Zabala barged his way over from close range.
It took just three minutes of the second half for Spain to add to their tally, a neat passing move involving impressive centre Andrea Rabagao and full back Guillermo Dominguez resulting in Parry dotting down for his second of the game.
With a string of replacements being made by both sides play became fractured, and there was no further scoring until Rabagao strode through a large gap in midfield to make it 34 0 with just over 20 minutes to go.
Rabagao then kicked a penalty, after Hugo Stiles had been penalised for illegally playing the ball at the breakdown, to increase the advantage by two, before Hong Kong finally got on the board through captain nbsp;Matthew Worley.
There was still time for Spain to add a sixth try, replacement Jose Lerin supplying the finish.
URUGUAY 34 38 FIJI
Fiji conjured up three late tries to beat Uruguay 38 34 and gain revenge for their narrow loss to Los Teritos in last year’s Trophy.
At 28 14 up with less than a quarter of the match to go, Uruguay looked destined for victory, even with six points awarded for a try, but diminutive Fijian fly half Jone Manu produced a couple of moments of magic to turn the game on its head and send the Fijians into raptures.
The Uruguayans will be kicking themselves at letting a game they’d been in control of for long periods slip from their grasp.
A penalty from Felipe Etcheverry, brother of Rugby World Cup player Jeronimo, put the South Americans in front with three minutes on the clock.
Uruguay belied the loss of centre Inaki Ormaechea to the sin bin for a dangerous tackle to end the half strongly.
They spent the best part of the final 10 minutes camped on the Fijian line and the pressure told with Fiji conceding two tries and losing two men to yellow cards in the process.
Uruguay were awarded a penalty try when centre Tomas Inciarte was taken out off the ball by Filimoni Savou while attempting to chase his grubber kick into the in goal area, which denied Fiji of their captain for 10 minutes, meaning the young Islanders finished the half down to 13 men as flanker Serupepeli Uru had already seen yellow.
