Spain, Samoa, Uruguay, Scotland soar in World Rugby U20 Trophy
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E-mail Xinhua, July 21, 2023
NAIROBI, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong, China made Samoa sweat before falling to a 30-27 defeat in the second round of the World Rugby Under 20 Trophy group fixtures in Nairobi on Thursday.
Elsewhere, Spain broke home fans' hearts when they silenced Kenya 48-18 to push the hosts closer to elimination, also winning their second match in a row.
Uruguay and Scotland are the other teams to maintain a 100 percent record.
In the opening fixture of the day, Samoa needed two late tries to sink Hong Kong, having fallen 22-15 behind in the closing stages.
The Pacific Island nation had been reduced to 12 players for five minutes of the second half before tries from captain John Mata and replacement prop Robert Junior helped them close out a 30-27 victory in Pool B.
Facing Spain in a Pool A clash, Kenya needed to bounce back after losing the opener to Samoa.
However, the Europeans fashioned a 17-15 lead at the break that could have been more but for handling errors that kept the home team in the match.
Coach Raul Perez's team returned a much-rejuvenated side in the second half, grounding five tries while restricting Kenya to only three points for a final score of 48-18.
In Pool A, Uruguay recovered from going 14-0 down to African Under-20 champions Zimbabwe to run in six unanswered tries to secure a 51-14 victory.
Scotland underlined their status as the team to beat as they soared to a 40-13 win over the well-drilled United States to register their second victory.
Winger Finn Douglas opened the scoring when he burst through for the opening try after a rolling maul.
Ben Afshar grounded a brace of tries after Findlay Thomson had crashed over to put Scotland in charge at halftime.
Andrew McLean and Corey Tait added further tries in the second half in a six-try win over the United States, who were made to pay after failing to capitalize on several line breaks in the opening exchanges.
The winner of the competition will be promoted to the tier-one World Rugby U20 Championship next season. Enditem
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