LACHLAN Hooper's Junior Wallabies side narrowly missed out on the chance to reach another World Rugby Under 20 Championship decider following a 22-all draw with England in their last pool fixture on Wednesday morning Australian time.
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The former Bathurst Bulldogs junior and Saint Stanislaus' College student along with his Australians levelled the scores with three minutes to go when Harry McLaughlin-Phillips scored a try, but a tough conversion was missed by Jack Bowen.
The result saw the Wallabies finish third in their pool at the South Africa tournament, forcing them into the 5th to 8th playoffs bracket on Sunday where they'll face arch rivals New Zealand.
The Wallabies reached the previous Under 20s grand final in 2019, where they went down to France, but a loss this year to Ireland and a win against Fiji weren't enough to get them back there again.
Drawing against England was a frustrating result for the Australians after they had a 58 per cent share of possession and carried a 17-14 lead into half-time.
On top of that England had two players yellow carded at separate times in the match but the Wallabies found just a single try in those 20 minutes.
"The guys worked so hard. They really tried to execute the plan as best they could," Wallabies coach Nathan Grey told rugby.com.au.
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"We created opportunities and put ourselves in a position to win the game. We couldn't quite get there.
"I'm super-proud of the effort but still disappointed. I thought we were the better side and the scoreboard doesn't show that."
The 30-10 loss to Ireland in the first pool match still stings for the Aussies.
A disciplinary hearing after the match determined that an opposed forward wasn't sent off for a first half offence that should have warranted a red card.
The game against the Kiwis takes place at 2pm Sunday local time (10pm AEST).
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