By CHRIS RATTUE
It was like watching a chip off the old block.
The opening round of the international under-21 tournament at North Harbour Stadium revealed many of the Colts sides to be close copies of their senior teams.
Argentina are noted scrummagers and so it was with their Colts at Albany, as
they shoved the English pack around during a 23-23 draw on Wednesday. If rugby was all about scrums, the Argentines would probably be the world champions, but their juniors did not appear to have too much else to offer.
On the evidence of last year's under-21 tournament in Argentina, the scrum-orientated game does not get the young Pumas too far.
They did not suffer any heavy defeats, but finished seventh out of eight teams after losing their pool matches to New Zealand, Ireland and France, and a semifinal against England before beating Ireland in a playoff.
England were, well, England. Robust forwards, kicking inside-backs and outside-backs who look a bit of an after-thought.
In the case of Australia, one of the chips is larger than the block - lock Dan Vickerman is 2.04m tall.
The Australians attempted the sort of inside-back moves which have become a Wallabies hallmark, although they did not strike too much success against Scotland in a 14-14 draw on Wednesday.
They were hampered by an injury to first five-eighths Tim Donnelly, who has played for the NSW and Australian sevens sides. Donnelly has recovered for tonight's feature match against South Africa, and the Australians have also been boosted by the return from injury of Queensland Super 12 outside-back Steve Kefu.
The Scottish Colts were modelled heavily on their senior side, with raw-boned forwards refusing to allow Australia to take advantage of an early lead.
Samoa also evoked a strong reminder of how their senior side helped to win recognition on the test stage, with a big-hitting defensive game and squat forwards who liked to charge with the ball on the fringes.
But they faded badly and their technical deficiencies were shown up by New Zealand.
True to form, New Zealand showed hints of their trademark flair in the win over Samoa, although the 42-3 score did not reflect how hard the home side had to battle for much of the match.
It was difficult to judge South Africa's true merits in a huge win over Tonga, who were late replacements for Fiji.
One look at the top placings at last year's tournament in Argentina gives further credence to the theory that junior rugby is a close image of the senior game. The top four were South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and France - as it was in the senior World Cup.
New Zealand have brought halfback James King (Wellington), inside-back Jason Shoemark (Northland) and openside flanker Josh Blackie (Otago) into the starting lineup for tonight's clash against England.
New Zealand: Ben Blair, Neil Brew, Gavin Williams, Jason Shoemark, Orene Ai'i, Aaron Mauger (c), James King; Jerry Collins, Josh Blackie, Rodney So'oialo, Kristian Ormsby, Filipo Levi, Carl Hayman, Keven Mealamu, Clarke Dermody. Reserves: Malili Muliaina, Amasio Valance, David Gibson; Hale Tu'uhoko, George Stowers, Decon Manu, Tom Willis.
England: Sean Marsden, Jamie Noon, Andrew Higgins, Tom May, Michael Stephenson, Andrew Goode, James Grindal; Mark Lock, Danny Collins, Adam Eustace, Alex Brown, Peter Short, Jon Dawson, Mathew Cairns (c), Michael Ward. Reserves: Mark Tucker, Mathew Leeke, Dan Smaje; Lee Mears, Richard Siveter, Richard Birkett, Adam Balding.
Today: Argentina v Samoa, 1 pm; Scotland v Tonga, 3 pm; New Zealand v England, 5.35 pm; South Africa v Australia, 7.35 pm.
By CHRIS RATTUE
It was like watching a chip off the old block.
The opening round of the international under-21 tournament at North Harbour Stadium revealed many of the Colts sides to be close copies of their senior teams.
Argentina are noted scrummagers and so it was with their Colts at Albany, as
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