Argentina U20 trounce Wales 15-39 to keep hopes of fifth place finish alive

Wales U20 15-39 Argentina U20, Narbonne
Scorecard

Argentina U20 have kept themselves in the race for a fifth-place finish after they managed to beat Wales 15-39 in their World Rugby U20 Championship encounter in Narbonne on Tuesday.

Wales will now face Italy to decide on the seventh and eighth spot while Argentina will take on Australia that will be the decider for the fifth-place finish.

Argentina fly-half Joaquin De La Vega Mendia kicked a 14th minute penalty goal to begin the proceedings but Wales bounced back with a touchdown from Ryan Conbeer in the 18th minute and Cai Evans followed it with a conversion to take the scoreline to 3-7.

Argentina once again seized the lead with a converted try from Manuel Nogues in the 24th minute but their momentum suffered a setback when Agustin Segura was sin-binned shortly thereafter.

Wales made most of the numerical advantage with Corey Baldwin dotting down but his efforts were cancelled out by a penalty try awarded to Argentina at the stroke of half-time as the teams headed into the break with a closely fought 12-13 margin.

Fullback Santiago Carreras ensured Argentina carry forwarded their momentum into the second half with an early try and the fly-half's conversion meant they increased their lead to eight points.

A 54th minute penalty goal from Cai Evans reduced the arrears to five points but further tries from Juan Molina (55') and Pablo Avellaneda (75') followed by a double conversion and a penalty kick from Mendia saw Argentina completed a 15-39 victory.