Lights go out on Wales’ hopes of winning world title

WALES Under-20s were punished by a ruthless England side as their losing start to the Junior World Championships in Georgia continued.

They were narrowly beaten by Australia on Wednesday and again had nothing to show for a spirited display as a Gabriel Ibitoye brace and tries from Justin Clegg and Alex Mitchell sank Jason Strange’s side.

Kieron Assiratti’s excellent score, a penalty try and Joe Goodchild’s late effort weren’t enough for Wales.

Arwel Robson’s penalty got the Welsh starlets off to a quick start in Tbilisi, but title-holders England have been in scintillating form and soon hit their straps.

Back rower Clegg muscled his way through a couple of tackles to score in the corner, with influential outside half Max Malins kicking the extras.

Malins was on target again when Harlequins wing Ibitoye scored twice in a matter of minutes – both tries were in the corner, but both times Malins struck the ball sweetly from the touchline to convert.

England found themselves 24-3 in front after 35 minutes.

Welsh skipper Will Jones had just been sin-binned by referee Pierre Brousset when the floodlights in Tbilisi failed, plunging both sets of players into complete darkness.

The delay, which lasted around 10 minutes, seemed to benefit Wales as they stormed out of the blocks for the remaining five minutes of the half.

Prop Assiratti produced the step of a nimble winger to manufacture some space and crash over the line on the brink of the break. Robson then added the extras and Wales reduced their half-time arrears to 24-10.

While England had been dominant in the loose, Wales’ dominance in the scrum started to show after the restart and they got their rewards when English prop Ollie Dawe was sent to the bin – just as Jones had returned to the pitch.

Referee Brousset had seen the Eng- lish front row collapse once too often on 50 minutes and when he awarded Wales an automatic seven-point penalty try, Strange’s troops smelled blood.

Malins squandered a straightforward penalty chance to keep the deficit at just seven points with 20 minutes to go.

But when replacement scrum-half Alex Mitchell was deemed to have touched down – when it seemed he may not have had full control – Wales were reeling.

Malins widened the gap with a snap drop goal and there was no way back for Wales.

Even a late score by substitute wing Goodchild wasn’t enough to deny a ruthless England outfit and consign Wales to another defeat.

In the other game in the pool yesterday Australia made it two wins from two as they defeated Samoa, but had to work extremely hard for a 33-26 victory.

Wales now face Samoa on Thursday in the last of their pool matches in the competition.

New Zealand, favourites for the title along with England, showed their ruthless streak with a 68-26 victory over Italy.