Photo: Rugby AU / Sportography

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The Junior Wallabies have got their Oceania Rugby U20’s Championship off to a fine start, with a comprehensive 51-5 defeat of Fiji U20’s on the Gold Coast last night.

The forwards did the hard yards, a dominant set-piece platform opening the door for the backs to run riot as they took a 27-0 advantage into the break. And they went on with it in the second half, University of Queensland scrumhalf Tate McDermott a standout as they recorded an eight tries to one victory, with Brothers openside Fraser McReight bagging a double,and Randwick winger James Ramm adding 11pts off the boot.

Tate McDermott was a standout for the Junior Wallabies – Photo: Rugby AU / Sportography

“It was a solid effort by the team,” Junior Wallabies head coach Jason Gilmore said afterwards. “I thought both halves in the first 20 minutes we executed really well and showed maturity. You want to make your defence the backbone of your team and the rest of it flows off that. 

“I was a bit disappointed in the back 20 of both halves with our defence. That’s a first game for us so it’s a bit of a line in the sand for us to see how we go. We need to keep building our programs and systems in the Oceania Rugby U20s Championship before we head to the World Championship.” 

In the other round one match-up earlier in the day, New Zealand flexed their muscles to lay down a marker with a 97-0 drubbing of Tonga.

Australia will now play Tonga in round two this coming Tuesday 1st May at 5pm AEST at Bond University Rugby Club.

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JUNIOR WALLABIES 51 (Fraser McReight 2, Mack Hansen, Tate McDermott, Len Ikitau, Patrick Tafa, Isaac Lucas, Matt McTaggart; James Ramm 4 cons, pen) defeated FIJI U20’s 5