Australia trounce Wales to top Group A in Student World Cup
Australia cruised through to the semi-finals of the Student Rugby League World Cup after beating Wales 74-6 on Sunday in Brisbane.

The Kangaroos were dominant throughout their win and took the lead in only the second minute after Clint Lovering set up Jonathan Crawley in the left corner. Lovering converted – the first of 11 goals he would score in the match.

The game was held up for five minutes after Martin Hatfield suffered a leg injury that is expected to keep him out of the Australia side for the rest of the tournament. However this did not distract the Kangaroos at all as Jordan Atkens ran through the Wales defence to ground just two minutes later.

It was 16 minutes before Wales actually got into the Australian half, and when they did, they got close to the line but a Pete Moore grubber kick on the fifth tackle was easily picked up by the Australian defence.

Australia took an 18-0 lead in the 21st minute. Jonathan Brinkworth was penalised for not playing the ball correctly and from the resulting scrum, Chris Fleming powered over.

Fleming ran in for his second just two minutes later, Ali Kourouche ran 50 metres for his first try in the 31st minute and Crawley scored his second just before half-time to give Australia a 36-0 lead at the interval.

Wales started stronger in the second half and crossed the line twice in the first five minutes but each time, Andrew Bond failed to score, just failing to get the ball on the first occasion and dropping the ball when he really should have scored just minutes later.

Australia made them pay from the resulting scrum as Fleming finished off a good move, powering over for his hat-trick to make it 42-0.

After this, Australia scored a try every five minutes right up until the 73rd minute, Wales not getting a look in as Burnett Wheary, Ben Groves and two

more tries each by Fleming and Kourouche gave the Kangaroos a dominating 74-0 lead.

However Wales refused to give up and their proud effort was rewarded with a try from Dewi Scourfield in the 76th minute producing the loudest cheer of the afternoon. His Cardiff Demons team-mate Matt Jackson converted to make the final score 74-6.

Jackson, the Wales man of the match said: “We’ve had a couple of tough games and we’ve all fought hard. Australia were superb today and we have to take the positives from this game into the Ireland match on Tuesday. If we work hard, I think we’ll beat the Irish to get into the Shield Final on Friday.”

AUSTRALIA: John Crawley, Nathan Tolley, Jordan Atkins, Martin Hatfield, Kevin Stephenson, Sam Williams, Shane Wooden, John Ellis, Chris Fleming, Quin Smith, Luke Hilton, Matt McKimmon, Clint Lovering. Subs (all used): Jim Nahme, Burnett Wheary, Ben Groves, George Ghazal, Ali Kourouche, Mitch Gaal.
Tries: Crawley (2, 39), Atkins (12), Fleming (22, 24, 46, 66, 73), Kourouche (31, 62, 70), Wheary (51), Groves (56)
Goals: Lovering 11/13

WALES: Matt Jackson, Andrew Bond, Geraint Davies, Dean Scully, Austin Saunders, Phil Carleton, Pete Moore, Dewi Scourfield, Mark Burke, Dennis Pugh, Jonathan Brinkworth, Neil Hesketh, Neil Davies. Subs (all used): Daniel ap Dafydd, Gareth Thirsk, Jason Massey, Gavin Curry.
Tries: Scourfield (76)
Goals: Jackson 1/1

Gamebreaker: Australia’s third try started the onslaught and determined that there was only going to be one winner.

Gamestar: Chris Fleming with five tries for the Kangaroos.

Men of the match:
Australia - Chris Fleming.
Wales - Matt Jackson.
Referee: Stephane Vincent (France). Half-time: 36-0.

Article by Ian Golden
10 Jul 2005