With the sun shining and the inspirational Haka bellowing around Ravenhill it was a clearly going to be a tough test for Wales in their opening Division A match with New Zealand at the IRB Under 19 World Championship on Thursday 5 April.
The Baby Blacks were in a buoyant mood and at times were too good for Wales as they ran out 37-14 winners, an almost identical score to New Zealand’s 38-14 defeat of the same side when they met on the opening Division A match day in last year’s tournament in Dubai.
The first half belonged to New Zealand centre Robert Fruean, who claimed an impressive hat-trick as the 2006 finalists dominated the early stages of the game with fly half Trent Renata probing the Welsh defence with tactical kicking.
This was rewarded with the second row partnership of captain Chris Smith and Samuel Whitelock winning great lineout ball. This possession resulted in the Baby Blacks muscling over for a try after four minutes when Fruean crashed over for his first of three scores.
Quickfire hat-trick
Six minutes later Fruean burst through the Welsh centres to claim his second with Renata’s conversion stretching New Zealand’s advantage to 12-0. The physical centre went on to complete his hat-trick after only 13 minutes when he fielded a perfect cross field kick from Renata.
The Welsh began to show their character at 17–0 down and rallied around their captain Sam Warburton. They built upon good scrum ball and attacking play from scrum half Rhys Webb to come close to the Baby Blacks’ line with wing Jimmy Norris almost reducing the points deficit.
New Zealand lost their way a little when their talisman Fruean was sin-binned for a professional foul after 24 minutes and Wales fly half Gareth Owen pounced on a spilt ball from his opposite number to race under the posts, giving his side a lifeline before half time with wing Leigh Halfpenny kicking the conversion.
Renata kicked a penalty for the Baby Blacks before the whistle to give his side a 17-7 half time lead, but Wales then came out for the second half with a little more adventure in their game and this caused the New Zealand defence a few problems.