Junior World Championship 2012: Argentina U20s 17-25 Wales U20s
- Published
Wales Under-20s claimed their highest finish at the IRB Junior World Championship by beating Argentina in Friday's third place play-off.
The Newlands win was built on a fine Welsh pack, which caused problems for the usually unruffled Argentina eight.
Wales led 19-0 at half-time as wing Tom Prydie kicked four penalties and converted a penalty try.
Facundo Isa and Juan Cappiello tries threatened an Argentina comeback but two more Prydie kicks saw Wales home.
Argentina suffered from indiscipline in the first half, coughing up a string of penalties and having two players sin-binned.
First flanker Joaquin Camacho was yellow-carded on 21 minutes for kicking a ball coming out of a Welsh ruck when he was lying on the ground, with lock Juan Cruz Guillemaín following him to the sidelines six minutes later.
Wales also had replacement Gareth Thomas sin-binned late in the game for a dangerous tackle, but the 14 men held out in the closing moments to claim a deserved third place.
Danny Wilson's junior Welsh side recorded a shock 9-6 victory over defending champions New Zealand in the pool stages, also defeating Fiji and Samoa, but were beaten by a rejuvenated Baby Blacks 30-6 in the semi-finals.
Wales U20s: Ross Jones (Ospreys); Tom Prydie (Dragons), Cory Allen (Blues), Thomas Pascoe (Blues), Luke Morgan (Ospreys); Matthew Morgan (Ospreys), Tom Habberfield (Ospreys); Rob Evans (Scarlets), Kirby Myhill (capt, Scarlets), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Rhodri Hughes (Ospreys), Matthew Screech (Blues), Luke Hamilton (Blues), Ellis Jenkins (Blues), Dan Baker (Ospreys)
Replacements: Darran Harris (Blues), Gareth Thomas (Carmarthen Quins), WillGriff John (Blues), Ieuan Jones (Dragons), Daniel Thomas (Scarlets), Jonathan Evans (Dragons), Owen Williams (Scarlets), Iolo Evans (Scarlets)