Centre Zach Fittler has shone for Australia U20 as they finish their Junior World Championship in seventh place with a 52-29 win over Argentina.
Fittler crossed for a try and set up another as the Aussies were in control throughout the 80 minutes, the son of NRL legend Brad finishing with a game-high five tackle busts and 88 post-contact metres.
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He was joined in kind by winger Tom Farr-Jones, the nephew of Wallabies legend Nick, and hooker John Grenfell, both of whom crossed for doubles in the strong win.
The Aussies were fired up after their narrow loss to Wales in the fifth-place semi-final to blow away Argentina either side of the break, with Fittler at the forefront of it.
The centre scored to start a run of tries for the Australians, piling on 33 unanswered points.
Three in the space of 10 minutes changed the game as Chris Whitaker’s side entered half-time with a 33-10 lead.
Fittler’s burst in the first 20 seconds of the second half ended any hopes of an Argentinian comeback, setting Toby Brial up for a commanding advantage that they wouldn’t let go of.
The early advantage was built off the back of early points from hooker Grenfell, crossing for a pair in his first start of the tournament.
The Darwin-bred product got the opener after tournament standout TJ Talaileva’s strong carry, giving Australia the lead shortly afterwards at the back of the rolling maul.
From here, the Australians were in control after Fittler’s try started the onslaught.
Flanker Luca Cleverley and winger Farr-Jones crossed within a three-minute period, with Farr-Jones benefiting from a lovely no-look ball from skipper Finn Mackay.
This gave the Aussies a commanding advantage that Argentina would look to eat into, only for Farr-Jones’ second to keep them at bay, his sixth of the tournament.
Kingbenjamin Swerling-Finaipepe’s smart pick-and-dive brought up the half-century, with the replacement making good use of one of his first touches of the afternoon with his debut try in gold.
Argentina got the last laugh with a late try, but Australia’s win was never in doubt as they finished on a high.
"It's awesome. We spoke about finishing on a high and Argentina are a great side. We played them in TRC and only just won so proud to put a performance on like that," skipper Finn Mackay said.
"I think in our last two games we didn't have that killer mindset so to have that today was really great and I'm proud of that effort from the boys.
"We obviously wanted to be top four so losing to France and Wales wasn't the goal but to end on a high just sets that up for next year with a bit of momentum and learnings for those boys returning for next year, which we're really excited about.
Australia 52 (Tries: Farr-Jones 2, Grenfell 2, Fittler, Cleverley, Swerling-Finaipepe, Brial; Cons: Bird 6) def Argentina 29 (Tries: Pfister, Cambiasso, Canedo, Salinas Mallea; Cons: Serpa 3; Pens: Serpa)
