En el Grupo A, Namibia marcó sus intenciones con una victoria por 12 tries ante Hong Kong, lo que deja a los africanos a 80 minutos de un lugar en la final. Samoa, que obtuvo una victoria ante Rumania tiene las mismas intenciones, aunque deberá mantener la disciplina ya que sufrió dos tarjetas amarillas y una roja frente al anfitrión.
El encuentro entre ambos será una verdadera semifinal, enfrentándose el próximo miércoles en lo que será un apasionante encuentro. Hong Kong y Rumania jugarán por evitar jugar por el último puesto.
Por el otro grupo, Fiji es el único que ha mantenido su invicto aunque debió trabajar mas de lo esperado ante Portugal, quien iba al frente hasta el minuto 57. Fiji enfrentará a un equipo de Canadá que tuvo el triunfo ante Uruguay en sus manos, pero en tiempo de descuento vio como Uruguay se quedaba con el primer triunfo en esta categoría.
Uruguay 27-23 Canadá
La mejor técnica en el scrum fue clave para Uruguay en el cierre de un disputado encuentro en que Los Teritos volvieron a tener el sueño de clasificar a la final, evitando lo que hubiera sido una segunda y dolorosa derrota.
Los canadienses no supieron mantener el liderazgo, al igual que en el debut contra Portugal.
Los sudamericanos abrieron el marcador en el minuto once cuando el capitán Santiago Civetta aprovechó un scrum avanzando. Esto fue contestado por un penal de Will Percillier en el minuto 19 y luego, cerca de la media hora intercambió penales con Juan Cattivelli.
Tras un error defensivo de Canadá, Uruguay se puso nueve puntos arriba gracias a un try de Alfonso Costa.
El segundo tiempo fue muy disputado y el octavo canadiense puso a su equipo a dos puntos a poco de comenzar el segundo tiempo con una corta corrida. A esto le respondió Manuel Portela tras un pase de Nicolas Buysan, por lo que Uruguay parecía controlar el encuentro.
Allí, el ingresado pilar uruguayo Ignacio Peculo vio la tarjeta amarilla y Canadá anotó 10 puntos en ese período - penal y conversión de Percillier del try de Jackson Matthews - para ponerse al frente a 10 minutos del cierre.
Intentaron controlar a Los Teritos pero sobre la última jugada, desde un scrum en ataque, la defensa canadiense no reaccionó ante un scrum que giró y el ingresado Matias D’Avanzo le dio el triunfo a su equipo.
Namibia 84-10 Hong Kong
El triunfo de los africanos fue claro y contundente aunque la gran diferencia la estableció en los últimos 20 minutos, cuando anotó siete tries para sellar su segunda victoria en el Grupo A.
Tras sumar mas de medio centenar de puntos en dos partidos, enfrentará a Samoa en el Stadionul National Arcul De Triumf por un lugar en la final..
Samoa 31-17 Rumania
El comienzo de Samoa no fue muy auspicioso por cuanto a los cuatro se quedó con un jugador menos por una tarjeta amarilla, permitiéndole a Rumania
got off to an inauspicious start against the hosts as lock Stefano Leavasa was sent to the sin-bin within four minutes of kick-off.
Romania put the pressure on from the resulting scrum and when play was switched to the left, their route one approach tied in the Samoan defence and allowed Emanuel Grigore to scamper over.
Samoa scrum-half Pupi Ah See was not going to be outdone by his opposite number, however, and within two minutes he carved open the home defence to level the scores.
Laauli Rudy Leavasa’s side had found their rhythm and wing Jim Tupe scored in the right corner to give them the lead after a quarter-of-an-hour, before fly-half Simon Toleafoa converted his own try five minutes later.
Romania narrowed their deficit before the break as Grigore scored his second try of the match, but as the second half got under way his fellow number nine Ah See took a pass from Toleafoa on the line to complete his own brace and secure his side a try bonus-point.
And when Sione Young Yen dived over in the left corner to give Samoa a 31-10 lead in the 51st minute it looked as though the Pacific Islanders would cruise to another U20 Trophy win.
But the game became increasingly scrappy, and just four minutes after Joe Faleafaga was shown a yellow card, try-scorer Tupe was shown red.
Playing against 13 men for six minutes, Romania began to gain the upper hand and scored their third try with a little over four minutes remaining as Andrei Homiuc injected some pace into their attack and Robert Murariu crashed over. The hosts pushed for the try that would have given them two bonus points in defeat but were kept at bay.
Portugal 22-32 Fiji
Fiji were made to work for their five points against Portugal, needing three tries in the closing 23 minutes to make sure of their second successive World Rugby U20 Trophy victory in Bucharest.
Portugal came into the match on a high following their last-gasp defeat of Canada, and took an early lead on day two as Jeronimo Portela touched down in the right corner. He missed the touchline conversion and Fiji levelled the scores within four minutes as Vilimoni Botitu offloaded to Joseph Mar, who scored in the left corner.
On the quarter-hour, the Pacific Islanders took the lead when Saimoni Uluinakauvadra outstripped the Portuguese defence on the right wing.
Caleb Muntz missed the subsequent conversion, and that allowed Portela two reel Fiji in as he struck two penalties before half-time to give Portugal a slender 11-10 lead at the break.
Further penalties from Portela and Joao Maria Lima stretched Portugal’s lead to a converted try with just over 26 minutes left. And with handling errors hurting their opponents, victory appeared to be on the cards.
However, in the 58th minute, Ilikena Vudogo scored a try out of almost nothing, and although Nabetelevu Turaganivalu missed the conversion Fiji were within two points.
Having edged the door to victory open, Fiji hooker Tevita Ikanivere bulldozed through it to score his side’s fourth try and hand them the lead. It visibly knocked the wind out of Portugal and Waisake Raratuba’s try with around eight minutes remaining made it game, set and match.
Turaganivalu stretched Fiji’s lead to 15 points with a late penalty, but there was still time for Manoa Mocelutu to be sent to the bin as Portugal chased a third try. The European side managed to breach the Fiji line eight minutes into stoppage time as Diogo Cardoso touched down after a series of reset scrums.