The iRB Junior World Championships 2013 in France ended with an amazing finals day.
First up Fiji beat the USA and secured their place in next year competition whilst the USA move down to be replaced by Italy. As expected Samoa beat Scotland, then our predictions started going wrong as Australia beat Ireland and France Argentina.
The big upset was New Zealand finishing fourth as they went down to South Africa 41-34 to follow their defeat in South Africa last year.
So to the final and a fired up Wales stretched out to a 15-3 lead until the last half-hour when England staged a fightback and ran out worthy winners to bring the cup to the Northern Hemisphere for the first time. The whole competition was a great advert for age grade rugby and some stars of the future were on show at this tournament. Not least the Wales number ten Sam Davies who was named player of the year.
Here are the teams that competed in the final:
Wales: Jordan Williams (Scarlets/Llanelli); Ashley Evans (Ospreys/Bridgend), Steffan Hughes (Scarlets/Llanelli), Jack Dixon (Dragons), Hallam Amos (Dragons/Newport); Sam Davies (Ospreys/Swansea), Rhodri Williams (Scarlets/Llandovery); Gareth Thomas (Scarlets/Carmarthen Quins), Elliot Dee (Dragons/Bedwas), Nicky Thomas (Ospreys/Swansea), Carwyn Jones (Scarlets/Carmarthen), Rhodri Hughes (Ospreys/Swansea), Jack Jones (Ospreys/Rovigo), Ieuan Jones (Dragons/Newport), Ellis Jenkins (capt, Blues/Cardiff).
Replacements: Ethan Lewis (Blues/Cardiff), Thomas Davies (Blues/Cardiff), Dan Suter (Ospreys/Bridgend), James Benjamin (Dragons/Bedwas), Daniel Thomas (Scarlets/Llanelli), Joshua Davies (Dragons/Bedwas), Owen Jenkins (Blues/Pontypridd), Thomas Pascoe (Blues/Pontypridd).
England: Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs); Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby), Harry Sloan (Harlequins), Sam Hill (Exeter Chiefs), Ben Howard (Worcester Warriors); Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs), Alex Day (Northampton Saints); Alec Hepburn (London Wasps), Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs), Scott Wilson (Newcastle Falcons); Tom Price (Leicester Tigers), Dominic Barrow (Leeds Carnegie), Ross Moriarty (Gloucester Rugby), Matt Hankin (Saracens), Jack Clifford (Harlequins) (capt).
Replacements: Scott Spurling (Saracens), Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi (Northampton Saints), Tom Smallbone (London Irish), Harry Wells (Leicester Tigers), David Sisi (Bath Rugby), Callum Braley (Bristol Rugby), Ollie Devoto (Bath Rugby), Henry Purdy (Leicester Tigers).
Referee: Mike Fraser (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Andrew Lees (Australia), Mathieu Noirot (France)
TV match official: Eric Gauzins (France)
Here are all the finals results:
Results Finals
11th Place Play-Off 23 Jun, 17:15 Fiji 46-12 USA Stade Pascal Laporte, Nantes
09th Place Play-Off 23 Jun, 15:00 Samoa 33-24 Scotland Stade Pascal Laporte, Nantes
07th Place Play-Off 23 Jun, 15:00 Australia 28-17 Ireland Stade Henri Desgrange, La Roche-sur-Yon
05th Place Play-Off 23 Jun, 17:15 Argentina 34-37 France Stade Henri Desgrange, La Roche-sur-Yon
03rd Place Play-Off 23 Jun, 15:15 South Africa 41-34 New Zealand Stade de la Rabine, Vannes
Final 23 Jun, 18:45 Wales 15-23 England Stade de la Rabine, Vannes
See you next year as the competition is hosted by New Zealand