Wales beat Uruguay to set up shoot-out for semis

Junior World Championship

Wales (26) 47

Tries: Emanuel 2, O Thomas, Ridgway 2, Leary, Bowen Cons: Lucas 5, Leggatt-Jones

Uruguay (0) 0

Wales Under-20s eased past Uruguay to give themselves a shot at the semi-finals of the Junior World Championship.

Richard Whiffin's side ran in seven tries in sweltering conditions at Avchala Stadium in Tbilisi to back up their tense win against hosts Georgia in the opening round.

Centre Steffan Emanuel twice, hooker Oscar Thomas and number eight Alex Ridgway went over in the first half for the Welsh youngsters.

Ridgway, wing Brogan Leary, full-back Tom Bowen scored tries after the break.

Avoiding a banana skin against Uruguay means Wales will have a chance to qualify for the semi-finals for the first time since 2013 when facing champions South Africa on Tuesday, 7 July (15:00 BST).

The Junior Boks climbed back above Wales with a 33-5 win against Georgia to effectively make the round three fixture a quarter-final.

Head coach Whiffin retained just two members of his starting line-up from the win against Georgia to give minutes to the wider squad.

The rotation and new combinations, plus testing conditions that required water breaks, understandably led to a scrappy start but Wales opened the scoring against the run of play in the 13th minute.

Emanuel, brought on early due to an injury to wing Dylan Scott, was worked over down the left after a break by captain Deian Gwynne.

Wales were reduced to 14 men when lock Osian Williams was yellow-carded for a late tackle but still stretched their lead through hooker Thomas from a driving line-out.

Number eight Ridgway was rewarded for a bright start when he was in support to finish off after a jinking run by centre Jack Hoskins in the 30th minute.

The bonus point was secured before the break when Emanuel finished powerfully from close range, fly-half Lloyd Lucas adding his third conversion for a 26-0 lead.

Job done, Wales took captain Gwynne off at half-time ahead of the South Africa challenge and then had another spell down to 14 men when prop Dylan James was shown yellow for a high tackle.

They made light of the numerical disadvantage for Ridgway to power over for his second and then wing Leary went over for a try on debut with an impressive finish after cutting a nice line, Lucas' two conversions making it 40-0.

Bowen dived over acrobatically down the left wing for a remarkable seventh score - the livewire Cardiff back grounding the ball by the flag while his body was over the touchline - before Wales held firm to deny plucky Uruguay a consolation.

Wales U20: Tom Bowen (Cardiff); Dylan Scott (Cardiff Met), Bailey Cutts (Cardiff), Jack Hoskins (Ospreys), Brogan Leary (Dragons); Lloyd Lucas (Cardiff), Cai Gealy (Bristol); Dylan James (Ospreys), Oscar Thomas (Bath), Yestyn Cook (Scarlets), Luke Evans (Exeter), Osian Williams (Bristol), Deian Gwynne (Gloucester, capt), Sam Morgan (Ospreys), Alex Ridgway (Bath).

Replacements: James Talamai (Dragons), George Tuckley (Dragons), Isaac Godfrey (Exeter), Tom Cottle (Cardiff), Evan Minto (Dragons), Sion Davies (Cardiff), Carwyn Leggatt-Jones (Scarlets), Steffan Emanuel (Cardiff).