Wales U21s took a major step towards the IRB Under-21 World Cup semi-finals after beating Argentina 24-18 at Iffley Road, Oxford today.

It was Wales' second successive pool victory, giving them every chance of reaching the last four. Their next game is against reigning champions South Africa on Saturday.

Wales, conquerors of Scotland last Friday, outscored Argentina 3-0 in tries as fly-half Nicky Robinson, wing Johnny Vaughton and prop Rhys Rhomas all touched down, while Robinson also booted three conversions and a penalty.

His 14-point haul followed a 22-point contribution during the victory over Scotland.

Argentina goalkicker Alfredo Cordone kept his side in contention through six penalties - three in each half - but Wales were deserved winners.

Australia has taken another step towards the semi-finals of the Under 21 World Cup with a hard-fought 24-5 win over Italy in Henley.

Days after thumping England 52-22, the young Wallabies went into their second clash with a revamped line-up, and with Peter Hynes scoring twice and Chris Siale and Elia Tuqiri also crossing for tries, managed the quartet of five-pointers they needed to also earn a bonus point.

Australia now plays New Zealand in its final pool match on Saturday, with the winner certain to advance to the last four, after the junior All Blacks needed a last-minute penalty to down France 26-23.

Siale crossed for the first try after 26 minutes, and the Australians then made the most of a two-man advantage following the sin-binning of Antonio Pavanello and Pino Patelli for foul play, as both Tuqiri and Hynes scored to make it 17-0 at half-time.

In the second half the Italians continued to frustrate their opponents with their defensive tactics, but Hynes added his second try in stoppage time to secure the bonus point, before Mirco Bergamasco grabbed a late consolation try for Italy.

"They were certainly round and about at the breakdown and killed the ball a lot," Australian coach Laurie Fisher said. "But to be fair they defended well and we played really poorly."

"I think though that getting this kind of performance out of the way before the New Zealand game isn't a bad thing. It wouldn't necessarily have been good to go into the game against New Zealand on the back of a 60-point win."

The strong wind at Newbury did not blow in Scotland's favour on day two of the U21 World Cup when they lost to the Irish in front of a rugby crowd of just under one thousand. Both sides seemed to lack in confidence, ironically more so the Irish despite the final score of 15-21.

In the first half all of Ireland's points were scored against the Scots from penalties, starting just three minutes into the game when Ireland's fly half Rainey put the first three points onto the score board. He repeated this soon after thanks to Scotland's forwards dragging the scrum down. Nicky Walker, Scotland's wing started the fight back with a try but Warnock failed to convert. What looked like an easy opportunity proved to be the first casualty of the wind.

Ireland increased the margin when Scotland gave away another opportunity allowing Ireland's fly half Rainey to easily find space between the posts for another penalty taking the score to 5-9.

In an atmosphere distinctly lacking the sort of tension in evidence at last Friday's opening pool games at Iffley Road in Oxford where the likes of title holders South Africa and favourites Australia first showed what they had to offer, this Newbury game limped on, seldom getting out of second gear and lacking in rhythm. Scotland started to catch up on the score board half an hour into the first half when an offside by Ireland earned the Scots a penalty by fly half Warnock. But Scotland had the appearance of a side that had seldom played together, not knowing what lines to run. Their chances were further decreased when their number 8 Hogg was sin binned for collapsing a maul close to the line. Ireland opted for the scrum, successfully leading to their number 8 Potts crossing for a try, sadly not converted by Rainey, taking the score at half time to 8-14 in their favour.

The second half was slower in pace and it took thirty five minutes before either side put any more points onto the scoreboard. Ireland seemed to be more hungry for the win and had marginally more ball. But they still lacked attacking confidence, so clearly demonstrated when their centre Telford intercepted and had the opportunity to run from half way to score a try but failed to last the distance. Tempers started to rise resulting in Scotland's full back Morton and Ireland's Hearty both being sin binned. At long last Ireland's full back O'Brien changed the scoreboard with a try converted once more by Rainey. This was the best example of pace witnessed in the game. Despite Scotland answering back 38 minutes into the second half when lock Strokosch struggled over the line for a try converted by Warnock, the Scots failed to make any more dents in the score by the final whistle.

Scotland's defeat in Newbury has put a dampener on their chances in the U21 tournament but Ireland could live to tell another tale against Argentina.

Despite knowing that only a win would be good enough to keep them in contention for a semi final spot, England got off to a slow start against tenth seeds Japan before running away to a 69-3 victory.

In the first quarter, the home side struggled to win possession against a Japanese side that recycled the ball quickly and moved it wide to exploit their pace at every opportunity.

Despite creating several early scoring chances, Japan failed to capitalise and by the time England found a way to retain the ball and utilise their powerful forward runners they found themselves only three points down.

After fifteen minutes, England debutant Andy Reay scored their first points, crossing the line after breaking a tackle. Five minutes later right wing James Bailey touched down again, this time in the left corner. With Ed Thrower failing to convert either, England led 10-3. Thrower soon made amends, scoring and converting a try of his own, set up by fly half Adryan Winnan. England continued to dominate possession as the Japanese pack failed to contain their big mobile forward pack, with Ryan Peacey in particular making some great runs. With Japanese flanker Takamichi Saski in the sin bin for a high tackle, centre Chris Bell and prop Jason Hobson added further tries before half time, both of which Thrower converted taking the half time score to 29-3 to England.

England were slow to regain their momentum after the break, but substitutes Chris Rowland (on for Rob Hawkins) and Ugo Monye (on for Henry Barratt) made an immediate impact. Try number six went to Monye who strolled over thanks to a perfectly timed pass from Bailey and an awesome defensive performance from Hawkins. With England showing great confidence and ability to move the ball wide, further tries followed in quick succession. James Bailey completed his hat trick, scoring two tries in two minutes and soon after Henry Barratt (back on after a blood injury to Monye) added two of his own, both of which Thrower converted (62-3). Monye just had time to add a his second taking England's try tally to ten and the final score to 69- 3 in England's favour.

England's points haul puts them fourth and keeps them in touch with pool leaders Australia. To qualify for the semi finals, England need to beat France on Saturday at Henley and rely on Australia overcoming New Zealand at Newbury by a greater winning margin.

James Bailey said, "A lot of people underestimated the Japanese, but we worked hard today and the scores came and in the end we got the result we knew we needed. I got my opportunity today to state my claim for the team, and hopefully for the France team."

"It was a really big blow for the team to be beaten by Australia, but we know now that we can do really well. France is always a big encounter and it'll be a great bookst if we can beat them."

POOL MATCHES SCHEDULE

13 JUNE 2003 - DAY 1
M Time Venue Teams
1 1500 Iffley Rd South Africa 36-27 Ireland
2 1700 Newbury Argentina 62-13 Canada
3 1500 Henley Scotland 19-37 Wales
4 1900 Iffley Rd Australia 52-22 England
5 1930 Newbury France 34-7 Italy
6 1900 Henley Japan 14-61 New Zealand

17 JUNE 2003 - DAY 2
M Time Venue Teams
7 1500 Henley South Africa 102-10 Canada
8 1500 Iffley Rd Argentina 18-24 Wales
9 1700 Newbury Scotland 15-21 Ireland
10 1900 Henley Australia 24-5 Italy
11 1900 Iffley Rd France 23-26 New Zealand
12 1930 Newbury Japan 3-69 England

21 JUNE 2003 - DAY 3
M Time Venue Teams
13 1800 Newbury South Africa v Wales
14 1800 Iffley Rd Argentina v Ireland
15 1800 Henley Scotland v Canada
16 1400 Newbury Australia v New Zealand
17 1400 Henley France v England
18 1400 Iffley Rd Japan v Italy