U19 2007 RWC - Canada Book Final Position
15 Apr 2007
Canada booked their place in the Division B final of the IRB Under 19 World Championship 2007 with a hard fought 19-3 victory over Georgia in their semi final at Gibson Park, Malone on Monday 16 April.
The Canadians will face Italy in the final at Shaw’s Bridge on Friday, the 19.30 local time kick off being a repeat of the third place playoff from last year’s tournament, one the Italians won 35-8 in Dubai.
The first half was very even with neither side putting substantial pressure on their opponent’s defence opposition defences, although Canada took the lead in the first minute through captain Nathan Hirayama’s penalty to the delight of their supporters.
Hirayama extended the lead with a second penalty just before the half hour mark, but Georgia reduced the deficit to 6-3 at half time with a late penalty by Beka Tsiklauri after Canada were penalised for dissent.
The second half saw Canada put Georgia under considerable pressure and they extended their lead early in the half as fly half Hirayama continued his 100 percent record with another penalty.
Pressure point
Georgia tried to get back into the game by spreading the ball wide and chipping the ball over the top, but this only succeeded in returning the ball to the Canadians, who took full advantage and camped on the Georgian line.
The defence was strong though, and Canada were forced to take another penalty, which succeeded in putting them more than one score ahead with only seven minutes to play in the semi final.
Canada continued to exert pressure on Georgia and their tiring defence finally gave way as centre Michael Scholtz used his pace to evade the despairing tackles after a high speed break from wing Jordan Wilson-Ross.
Hirayama converted to take his personal haul from the game to 14 points. Canada can now look forward to Division B final against Italy, while Georgia face USA in the third place playoff at 18:00 local time at Upritchard Park, Bangor on Friday.
QUOTES
Canada coach Gary Johnston: “This is the best game we have played, so I am very happy. We came here hoping to be involved in the final against either Tonga or Italy. We knew that the Georgians would play a physical game, but we also knew that we could stand up to them and use our own physicality to knock them over.
\"Italy look like a class team, but we believe we can beat them. We hope that the game will go ahead at Ravenhill as I feel that the boys have earned the right to play in front of a big crowd at the best ground in the country.”
Canada captain Nathan Hirayama: “It feels good to be in the final, I can’t wait for Friday now. We expected the game to be very physical. We watched videos of them before the game and knew what to expect. We are looking forward to playing Italy. We have heard that they are a very good side, so it should be a good match.”
Georgia assistant coach Zurab Amonashvili: “Our team could not do enough to win today. We did not have enough power and were tired after so many games in a short time. Today’s match was good, but we are disappointed and we will prove in our next game that we can take third place.”
Georgia captain Archil Kobauri: “We wanted to make the final of course, but losing against Zimbabwe was not good and we were happy to perform so well against Russia. The start of the game was good, but we couldn’t score tries. We wanted to be in the final of Division B, but we will look to get third place now.
\"Canada were very strong, but our defence was excellent, it was only it the last five minutes that they broke through our defence. I want to wish Canada all the best for the final.”
