Tevita Li showed his class in a dominant display for the Junior All Blacks © Getty Images

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Australia and New Zealand have both enjoyed victories on the opening day of the World Rugby Under 20 Championship in Italy. The Junior All Blacks had little trouble in accounting for Scotland in a 68-10 win but their trans-Tasman rivals Aussies were made to work much harder by Samoa, the Aussies eventually emerging 34-22 victors.

Blues Super Rugby pair Akira Ioane and Tevita Li were standout figures in a bright New Zealand performance in Parma, as they overcome an early 10-3 deficit to score three tries and lead 27-10 at half-time. The floodgates opened after the break as New Zealand ran in six more tries, with their speedy backline taking advantage of a dominant performance up front.

Auckland first five-eighth Mitchell Hunt kicked 10 from 12 shots at goal in a 28-point haul. His try was one of several long-range efforts and one of numerous breaks sparked by the power and speed of flanker Ioane or wing Li. Both Super Rugby players crossed in the first half, along with fullback George Bridge, while the second-half tries went to Hunt, No.8 Blake Gibson, flanker Mitchell Karpik, centre Jack Goodhue, lock Geoffrey Cridge, and second five-eighth TJ Faiane.

Melbourne Rebels back Jonah Placid was the star of Australia's 12-point win while skipper Andrew Kellaway became the all-time leading try-scorer at the tournament when he sealed Samoa's fate with his 11th five-pointer close to full-time.

RE:LIVE: @drew_kells re-writes the record books by becoming the top ever try scorer at #WorldRugbyU20s with 11 https://t.co/Eb1ZHfnrVd

— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) June 2, 2015

The Aussies led 15-8 at the break and Samoa twice closed the gap to just five points during a thrilling second-half. But the Pacific Islanders were unable to wrestle the lead from their Oceania neighbours; Kellaway's try icing a confidence-boosting opening win.

"It was a bit scrappy but all in all it was a good win," Kellaway said. "We'll go away and work on what we need to work on for the next game but all in all happy with the win. We really respected Samoa and certainly expected them to go the full 80."

In other matches, South Africa defeated hosts Italy 33-5, defending champions England thumped Japan 59-7, Ireland defeated Argentina 18-16 and France edged Wales 19-10.