The final round of matches in the pool stages of the Junior World Rugby Trophy (JWRT) took place yesterday, 26th June, in Salt Lake City, USA, on fields surrounded by lovely snow capped mountains.
The JWRT now heads into the play off stage, with these games coming up on Saturday 30th June. The matches will take place during the night SA Time.
Japan and USA remained unbeaten after their three pool matches, while Russia and Zimbabwe failed to win any of their matches.
Following their unbeaten record through the tournament thus far we see USA topping Pool A, while Japan are the winners of Pool B.
Final pool standings (from IRB website):
|
Pool A |
||||||||||
|
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
PF |
PA |
TF |
TA |
BP |
PTS |
| USA | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 112 | 49 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 14 |
| Tonga | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 114 | 43 | 18 | 5 | 2 | 10 |
| Chile | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 92 | 114 | 13 | 17 | 1 | 5 |
| Russia | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 39 | 151 | 6 | 23 | 0 | 0 |
P=Played; W=Won; D=Draw; L=Lost; PF=Points For; PA=Points Against; TF=Tries For; TA=Tries Against; BP=Bonus Points; PTS=Points
|
Pool B |
||||||||||
|
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
PF |
PA |
TF |
TA |
BP |
PTS |
| Japan | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 113 | 100 | 17 | 15 | 3 | 15 |
| Georgia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 103 | 60 | 14 | 8 | 3 | 11 |
| Canada | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 118 | 114 | 17 | 15 | 3 | 7 |
| Zimbabwe | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 88 | 148 | 13 | 23 | 3 | 3 |
The games scheduled for Saturday sees Russia and Zimbabwe playing each other to avoid the wooden spoon. The battle to be crowned JWRT 2012 Champions will be between Japan and USA in the final game of the tournament
Schedule of the play off set of games (from IRB website):
|
7th Place Play-Off |
||||
| 30 Jun, 12:00 | Russia |
– |
Zimbabwe | Murray Rugby Park Stadium, Salt Lake City, Utah |
|
5th Place Play-Off |
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| 30 Jun, 14:00 | Chile |
– |
Canada | Murray Rugby Park Stadium, Salt Lake City, Utah |
|
3rd Place Play-Off |
||||
| 30 Jun, 16:00 | Tonga |
– |
Georgia | Murray Rugby Park Stadium, Salt Lake City, Utah |
|
Final |
||||
| 30 Jun, 18:00 | USA |
– |
Japan | Murray Rugby Park Stadium, Salt Lake City, Utah |
The winner of the final will be promoted to play in next year’s Junior World Championship (JWC) to be held in France. This will be in place of Italy who ended last in this year’s JWC.
USA are Junior World Rugby Trophy Champions – they beat Japan in the final – score 37-33. Sounds like it was a very exciting match and the USA had to hold on and defend desperately in the end to hold out against Japan’s attacks. At the other end of the play-offs Zimbabwe managed to avoid the wooden spoon by beating Russia and so end in seventh place. This was their first win of the tournament. The score of that game : Zimbabwe 22- 10 Russia.
Rest of play-off day results: 3rd place : Tonga 31-29 Georgia (Tonga 12 points behind at half time). 5th place : Chile 43- 31 Canada.