Catch the U20 Rugby Championship LIVE and ad-free on Stan Sport<\/a><\/p>\nHowever, a red card to Cooper Watters for a dangerous cleanout and a yellow to Angus Grover for a cynical foul halted all momentum and freed the Kiwis to strike.<\/p>\n
New Zealand scored three tries in a five-minute span to take a lead they would hold onto until the end, a desperate fight from the Aussies.<\/p>\n
The Kiwis opened the scoring through fullback Cohen Norrie but the Australians were quick to establish their power in the first half.<\/p>\n
Marshall Le Maitre hit straight back as the Australian forward pack dominated the physicality battle up front, constantly getting over the advantage and making big metres from their rolling mauls.<\/p>\n
New Zealand would shortly restore their lead after completing a 14-point swing following Leo Jacques\u2019 disallowed try due to obstruction, with prop Henry Stuart the man to cross.<\/p>\n
But the Aussies were unfazed, and Riley Whitfeld\u2019s smart step back inside beat two to level the scores and set up Finn Mackay to take over the game.<\/p>\n
The Reds fly-half threw a beautiful cutout play to replacement Taione Taka for the five-pointer, before scoring his own right before the break.<\/p>\n
He even helped stop a rolling maul as Chris Whitaker\u2019s side took a 24-12 lead into the break.<\/p>\n
However, the match would unravel as Watters was red-carded for a dangerous cleanout in the 53rd minute following a Kiwis try.<\/p>\n
While the Australians negated his loss with Jaques’ five-pointer, the departure of Angus Grover for slowing the ruck after a length-of-the-field break proved too hard to overcome.<\/p>\n
Down to 13, nothing was going Australia’s way as Haki Wiseman crossed instantly, which was followed by a charge down landing in Kiwi hands for a Caleb Woodley try.<\/p>\n
Logan Williams put the Kiwis in front with 13 minutes to go, bursting away despite claims of a breakdown penalty being waived away as the Aussies eventually returned to 15.<\/p>\n
Chris Whitaker\u2019s side had their chances, with Louie Fenwicke crossing the line, only to be brought back for a knock-on in the build-up.<\/p>\n
A rolling maul was denied metres out, followed by Eli Langi being held up over the line, summing up the frustrating afternoon for the team.<\/p>\n
It allowed the Kiwis to control the final minutes and hang on for victory as they prepare for Argentina on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The Aussies’ campaign goes from bad to worse, with centre Frankie Goldsbrough in doubt for the match against South Africa after coming off early with a shoulder injury<\/p>\n
New Zealand 34 def Australia 29 (Tries: Le Maitre, Jacques, Mackay, Taka, Whitfield; Cons: Mackay 2)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A pair of cards against the Australia U20 in the second half has helped New Zealand to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,8626,44],"class_list":["post-634307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-u20","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}