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Wales U20 54 Samoa U20 20

8th June 2017


Cardiff Blues' Shane Lewis-Hughes, Aled Ward and Dane Blacker all crossed for tries during Wales U20's 52-20 win over Samoa in the World Rugby U20 Championships.

A Lewis-Hughes brace helped put Wales in a commanding position in Tbilisi, before lively scrum-half Blacker put the game beyond doubt in the latter stages.

Outside half Ben Jones, who was named in the starting XV for the first time during this tournament, racked up eight points from the boot, as Jared Rosser, Sean Moore, Will Griffiths and Joe Goodchild also crossed the whitewash.

Wales U20s got off to a nervy start in blistering heat in Tbilisi and their errors allowed Samoa to open up a 6-0 lead thanks to the boot of Ricky Pauli Ene.

But they struck for their first try, against the run of play, on 10 minutes and never looked back. 

Samoa had been pressing but when possession was lost, Wales struck with deadly precission and Ioan Nicholas did well to put Rosser away.

It was Cardiff Blues back-row duo Aled Ward and Shane Lewis-Hughes that claimed the next tries as Strange’s side took control of the encounter.

First Ward dived over at the back of a dominant scrum, which was causing Samoa all sorts of problems, and following some more forward muscle Lewis-Hughes bumped off several defenders from close range.

Their regional teammate Ben Jones maintained his 100 per cent strike-rate and he slotted a fourth conversion when Pontypridd lock Sean Moore powered over following a driving lineout.

Wales U20s led 28-6 at the interval and they took a further stride towards victory when Lewis-Hughes crossed for his second.

Jones was unable to convert but Wales were in full control of their final Pool A encounter.

Samoa however, had other ideas and they claimed two tries through Alexander Pohla and Setu Enoka, both of which were converted by Pauli Ene.

However, the result was put beyond doubt in the latter stages of the game, as replacement Blacker put his stamp on the game with a try of his own, before a quick tap caught the Samoan defence napping, giving him the opportunity to release lock Will Griffiths to score under the posts.

Patient play by Strange's side in the final play of the match saw Goodchild squeeze over in the corner to cap off the victory.