We bring you reaction from the opening day of the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy 2010 in Moscow, which saw Italy, Canada, Japan and defending champions Romania enjoy victories.


POOL A

ITALY 74-0 PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Italy coach Andrea Cavinato: "We knew that the first game against Papua New Guinea wasn't the key game in our pool stage, but the next two matches against Romania and Uruguay will be much tougher. The match today between Uruguay and Romania has been a close one, both these teams seem to have very good packs and good scrummaging.

"Today's game was important because we focused on our rugby for at least 70-75 minutes, but I am a bit disappointed by the last five minutes when we lost concentration and conceded too many penalties. We won't be able to do that in our next games. Our Junior Rugby World Trophy will start properly tomorrow when we start training for the Romania game."

"I am very happy with the result. We have improved our game strategy and used the opportunities in the scrums and lineout to secure the ball. In our next game we will try to have more mental concentration and I believe they will not make the same mistakes when passing. We wish to give credit to Papua New Guinea, who are very good tacklers and runners.

Papua New Guinea coach Robin Tarere: "Italy were much too strong for us, they are a very high level of opposition. We tried to avoid contact and make more passes and counter attack, but they were too strong. In the next game we hope to work more on kicking and catching the ball from kicks and then launching counter attacks."

URUGUAY 12-15 ROMANIA

Romanian coach Alexandru Achim: "I somehow expected this but not as bad as this. We just simply failed to capitalise on our superiority in the set pieces in particular, however this is a good win and a good lesson as well. We complicated the game too much, when simple solutions in simple situations would have given us the edge. However, a win is a win."

Romania captain Petru Tamba: "I am delighted to have started with a win. It was much harder than expected, but by and large it was our fault. We made too many mistakes, because the boys were quite tense as it was the first match. Our pack was superior but we failed to subdue them properly. We will have to improve 100 percent if we want to match the Italians, who are the strongest team here."

Uruguay assistant coach Juan Baldomir: "It was a hard match, tough but fair. Both teams did their best but in the end we could not overcome their huge pack. We got very slow ball from our breakdowns, which I think was the case with the Romanians as well, so in the end neither of us had the time and space to score tries.

"Besides, our fly half stayed too deep and could not control the game effectively. Basically it was too much kicking and too little running. They dominated the scrum from time to time, but we shared the lineout. We must now regroup and get the boys in the right frame of mind for the next match against Papua New Guinea."

Uruguay captain Sebastian Sagario: "We played a good game but didn't convert the last penalty. We wanted to give good balls to our forwards, they are very good, maybe the best forwards in the tournament. The Romanians are big too, but we tackled them easily. In the next game, against Papua New Guinea, we will do the same thing, attacking by our forwards. We couldn't score a try today, but on the next match day I'm sure we will do it."

POOL B

RUSSIA 17-31 JAPAN

Japan coach Yukio Motoki: "It was a fast and dynamic match and I am pleased to have started the campaign with a win. The quality of the performance, in particular our set pieces, was less pleasing, but this is something we will have to work on. We expected a very physical challenge from the Russians, but our defence was good."

Japan captain Kota Yamashita: "I am happy with the result. Credit to Russia they gave us a very hard game. It was a hard fought, dynamic encounter, but our set piece did not go that well, so our backs did not have enough quality ball to run. We also made too many mistakes, perhaps because of the emotion of playing our first game, but I am sure we will improve. We are not too far from a very good performance."

Russia head coach Andrey Cherevichny: "We had to win but our success with penalties and conversions was bad. We scored two tries by the 75th minute, as did the Japanese but they were leading by seven points. If our kicks had been good we could have got a better result.

"This game showed that Russian rugby is getting better and better. Our forwards played very aggressively, but the Japanese backs were very speedy and went through our defence easy. Canada will be another game. Their scrum is massive and we can have more problems with it, but our task is only to win.

Russia captain Stanislav Selskiy: "A lot of people before the game said that we will lose with the margin of 50 points. We could have won, we had a lot of emotions but our expectations prevented us from doing so. Our forwards played very good, but we had some problems in our backs. Their tackles weren't good, but I'm sure that against Canada they will be better. We are going to win."

CANADA 22-6 ZIMBABWE

Canada coach Tim Murdy: "Obviously they were very unfortunate in the first half not to come away with some of the points. It's a difficult things sometimes for kickers in international rugby and lucky for us Zimbabwe's kicker had an off day. I was very proud of the way our boys played. They were able to scramble back on defences several times and ensure that Zimbabwe weren't able to cross the line."

Zimbabwe coach Brighton Chivandire: "I congratulate Canada on a good win. My boys showed good defence and spirit. Their mental strength was good and they put a lot of effort in throughout the match. I hope they show the same spirit in the next match and win."