Chinese Taipei secured 11th place in Division B at the IRB Under 19 World Championship 2007 with a 29-10 victory over the Cook Islands in an exciting game at Gibson Park, Malone on Friday 20 April.
The game was open and expansive as both sides looked to score from all over the pitch and claim their first victory in the tournament at the same time, the closest either had come being the 10-10 draw between them in the pool stages.
This encounter was a very different match from that draw with Chinese Taipei dominating the early stages and ending the first half with a 17-0 lead. By contrast, the Cook Islands did not have the best of starts, sending their kick off straight into touch.
Chinese Taipei took only six minutes to register their first points when wing Chung-Wei Chou raced in on the blindside after a scrum five metres out.
Two near identical tries from five metre lineouts followed through Tung-Yang Wu and Cheng-Wei Chang after the Chinese Taipei forwards won the ball and drove right through the Cook Islands’ defence to lead 17-0 after 27 minutes.
Driving to victory
The second half started with the Cook Islands in the ascendancy, but they failed to convert their opportunities into points until centre Rodney Maui intercepted a pass on the Chinese Taipei 22 and chipped the remaining defenders to score under the posts.
Chinese Taipei though restored their 12-point advantage with 10 minutes remaining when yet another driving maul allowed flanker Chao-Wei Guo to score his side’s fourth try of the match.
Another try followed five minutes when an interception allowed centre Chih-Wei Chu to run unopposed under the posts to score, replacement Hsun Pan kicking the conversion to give Chinese Taipei a 29-5 lead with the clock ticking down.