Scrumhalf James Martens has proved the difference as Australia kept their U20 World Championship hopes alive with a 34-24 win over Scotland in Italy.
The Queenslander had a hand in multiple tries as the scrumhalf finished with a double in an exceptional performance.
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Needing a spark following their defeat, the Aussies started strong as Cooper Watters’ chip behind the defensive line forced a five-metre scrum.
This gave the Australians a prime chance to strike as Martens spied some space and dived over for the opener.
Scotland captain Freddy Douglas tied it up as he dived over from a five-metre rolling maul.
This failed to deter Chris Whitaker’s side as young gun Nicholas Conway capitalised on space to race away for the response.
The winger collected the ball just inside Scotland’s half before burning the cover defence for the five-pointer.
Scotland levelled the scores as Ollie Duncan dived over untouched before half-time.
But it was Australia that maintained a seven-point lead at the break following Lipina Ata’s sharp carry from close.
Jed Finlay thought he’d reduced the margin, but the TMO brought the try back for a knock-on in the build-up from Fergus Watson.
Finlay eventually found his way over to level the scores after the break as he dived over to defy a strong tackle from Sid Harvey to place it down.
The Aussies believed they had the try to break the deadlock, only for the TMO to bring it back for a knock-on in the build-up, before Douglas held up Tom Morrison over the line.
As both sides hunted for a try, Australia found themselves down to 14 after Joey Fowler was yellow carded for a high clean out.
It allowed Duncan to capitalise as he scored his second for Scotland’s first lead of the match.
Despite this, Martens found himself over for a second to level the scores after a rolling maul effort was halted right before the line.
This sparked the Aussies as Watters was brought down centimetres before the line, allowing prop Finn Baxter to dive over the line with ten minutes to go.
Martens’ 50-22 sealed the win as debutant Will Guilfoyle dived over from the resulting maul for the winner.
Scotland hunted for a response, but a forward pass ended their chances of a comeback as the Aussies kept their title hopes alive.
Martens thought he had a hat-trick, only for the TMO to rule it out for offside.
But the result was already secured as the Aussies secured the win, needing to defeat England to advance to the semi-finals if results go their way.
Australia 34 (Martens 2, Conway, Ata, Baxter, Guilfoyle tries; Harvey 2 cons) def Scotland 24 (Duncan 2, Douglas, Findlay tries; Urwin, Coates cons)
