USA create history as Scotland match best-ever Junior World Championship finish

Scotland survived a fraught finale to beat Wales and secure fifth place at the World Rugby Junior World Championship 2026, while USA won for the first time at the 15th attempt and Australia and Japan also signed off with victories in Georgia.

The penultimate day of the World Rugby Junior World Championship 2026 in Georgia on Friday proved to be an historic one as USA recorded their first-ever win in the tournament, beating Uruguay 39-15 in Kutaisi to secure 15th place.

Scotland also matched their best-ever finish of fifth – secured in 2017 when the tournament was last hosted in Georgia – after edging out Wales 28-21 in a thrilling encounter at Avchala Stadium in Tbilisi.

Australia and Japan were the other winners on Friday, the Junior Wallabies beating Argentina 52-29 to secure seventh place and Japan coming out on top in an absorbing encounter with Spain in Kutaisi, the 34-26 victory enough to secure two wins in a single Junior World Championship for the first time.

The curtain will fall on the 2026 edition on Saturday with France meeting defending champions South Africa in the final at Mikheil Meskhi Stadium in Tbilisi. It will be the first time these sides, this year’s U20 Six Nations and U20 Rugby Championship winners, will meet in the title decider with the Junior Springboks bidding to defend their crown and France seeking a fourth title.

New Zealand and England will contest third place at the same venue, while Italy face Ireland for ninth place and Georgia and Fiji meet in the 11th place play-off in Kutaisi.

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Fifth place play-off

SCOTLAND 28-21 WALES: Scotland edge out Wales despite late yellow cards

Scotland held on during a tense finale to beat familiar foes Wales and secure fifth place – emulating their highest-ever Junior World Championship finish.

They had lost 31-21 to Wales in the U20 Six Nations but outscored them in Tbilisi by four tries to three in a nail-biting encounter which saw them pushed all the way. Scotland had Matthew Fick and Ewan Caven sin-binned late on but, inspired their talismanic captain and hooker Joe Roberts, the 13 men held on for victory.

Wales began brightly and second-row Will Evans squeezed over the line before prop Jac Pritchard barrelled over to give his side a 14-0 lead. However, Scotland steadied themselves and hit back to tie the scores, prop Ollie Blyth-Lafferty touching down from point-blank range before Alex Bryden’s perfect flat pass sent centre partner Henry Kesteron charging over the line.

After the break, Wales second-row Evans was shown a yellow card but full-back Lewis Edwards raced through the Scotland defence for a converted try.

That levelled matters at 21-21 and, after Wales lost Tom Bowen to a yellow card, Scotland regained the lead in the 64th minute when Dan Kelly dived over in the right corner. Despite losing Fick and Caven to yellow cards, they held firm for the win, thanks in part to Wales losing the ball over the line on two occasions.

Action from the World Rugby Junior World Championship 2026 fifth place play-off between Scotland and Wales at Avchala Stadium in Tbilisi, Georgia, on 17 July. Photo: Tamuna Kulumbegashvili/ World Rugby

Seventh place play-off

ARGENTINA 29-52 AUSTRALIA: Junior Wallabies edge entertaining encounter to seal seventh place

Australia hooker John Greenfell scored twice on his first start of the tournament to help the Junior Wallabies seal victory in the seventh place play-off at Avchala Stadium in Tbilisi on Friday.

His first-half double was the highlight of a dominant opening 40 minutes that saw Australia score five tries and establish a commanding 33-10 lead. From there they did not look back and, having shared three wins apiece in their previous six Junior World Championship meetings, Australia beat Los Pumitas for the fourth time.

Greenfell opened the scoring inside the second minute from Sam Blank’s short pass but Los Pumitas hit back through free-scoring full-back Simon Pfister.

He scored his eighth try of the tournament after taking a superb pass from fly-half Federico Serpa Laporte, but Greenfell crashed over again from a lineout and Zach Fittler scored Australia’s third before Luca Cleverley and the impressive Tom Farr-Jones got in on the act before half-time.

Toby Brial, Farr-Jones and Kingbenjamin Swerling-Finaipepe added further tries for the Junior Wallabies with second-half scores from Bautista Salinas Mallea, Nicolás Cambiasso and Tomás Canedo for Argentina.

Action from the World Rugby Junior World Championship 2026 seventh place play-off between Argentina and Australia at Avchala Stadium in Tbilisi, Georgia, on 17 July. Photo: Levan Verdzeuli / World Rugby

13th place play-off

JAPAN 34-26 SPAIN: Japan secure back-to-back wins for first time

Japan beat Spain in the 13th place play-off after edging an ill-disciplined affair which saw seven players shown yellow cards at AIA Arena in Kutaisi. Five of those went to Los Leones U20 players and Japan capitalised to win two matches in a single Junior World Championship for the first time.

Both teams had enjoyed record wins in their 13th place semi-finals, with Japan beating USA 71-21 and Spain inflicting a 57-6 defeat on Uruguay. These results saw Japan end a run of 19 consecutive defeats at the Junior World Championship and Los Leones U20 snap a run of eight straight losses respectively.

Spain were forced into a reshuffle in the centres with Marcos López withdrawn from the side due to a ruptured ACL, but they scored an early opener through captain Marcal Carreras before Japan hit back to lead with tries from Isa Fukada and Rio Iwakura.

Spain had Ivan Farace and Telmo Fisher Obieta sent to the sin-bin but scored through Carreras again to lead 18-12 at the break.

Japan responded in the second half with tries by Shinnosuke Uchida, Yuta Otabe and Masato Hyakutake as three more second-half yellow cards proved costly for Spain, who could only muster a try through Farace.

15th place play-off

USA 39-15 URUGUAY: Perez hits treble for Uruguay before USA hit back to seal historic win

USA recovered from a sluggish start to overpower Uruguay and claim their first-ever Junior World Championship victory in the 15th place play-off in Kutaisi on Friday.

Uruguay had failed to score a try in their three previous matches in Georgia but found themselves 15-0 ahead after 33 minutes at AIA Arena following a remarkable hat-trick of close-range scores from hooker Sebastián Perez.

However, if Los Teritos were dreaming of a first-ever win in this tournament, the response was impressive from the USA as they scored on the stroke of half-time through hooker Aidan Stewart’s try, the first seven of 39 unanswered points his side would score.

The USA then showed their class in the second half to secure that elusive first Junior World Championship win at the 15th attempt, number eight Papaseea Matelau and flanker Harrison Cluff tries putting Johannes Gericke’s men in control before Oliver Kirk and Liam Hall scored late on.