Try for Smith but England's hopes ended by Australia

A try from Harlequins wing Sam Smith was not enough to save England's bid for the IRB Junior World Championship title after they fell short in the semi-finals against a classy Australia side in Rosario.

Smith grabbed the opening try and London Irish full-back Tom Homer added two penalties as they chased the game going into the final quarter, with Gloucester centre Jonny May grabbing a consolation score at the death.

But Australia had dominated territory throughout the game, threatened more with the ball in hand and finished impressively with wing Aidan Toua and full back Luke Morahan scoring their first-half tries and centre Kimami Sitauti striking five minutes from time.

Fly-half Matt To'omua stroked over three penalties and two conversions and the Wallabies march on to face New Zealand or South Africa in the final, while England go into the bronze medal match on June 21.

Australia were liveliest in the opening 10 minutes, making the half-breaks that established an early platform before To'ouma opened the scoring.

But number two seeds England fought their way into the game as well as controlling set pieces and some surging forward play put them on top before the ball went wide for Smith to grab the opening try of the game and his first score of the tournament.

His opposite number Toua, meanwhile, has also been a threat all through the JWC and edged Australia back in front with To'ouma converting.

But despite Homer's first successful penalty pegging them back to 10-8, Australia exploited their attacking positions in the 10 minutes before the break to open up a 12 point lead.

Morahan's cut back to the line and To'ouma's assist gave them a second try and the Junior Wallabies came close to a a third before settling for To'ouma's second penalty.

England battled back after the interval, defended stoutly and their replacements all added value, Lee Imiolek making an impact in the tight and Freddie Burns lively at fly-half.

A potentially try-scoring chip and chase from Burns was flapped away over the dead ball line - potentially a penalty try award - before Homer drilled over three more points to reduce the deficit.

But England just fell off too many tackles and conceded territory - To'ouma adding his third penalty - before coming again late in the game with Smith, Homer and Burns all lively.

They allowed Sitauti to get away for a score three minutes from time, though, before May responded by shrugging off tackles in the final move of the match.Smith said: "You're never going to win a game with that many first-up tackles missed so we have ourselves to blame.

"We showed in attack that we could stretch them but lost the ball when we should have kept it and let them in on some pretty soft tries.

"I finally got a bit of space to run at today and I was really, really happy with my try.

"Obviously, I would have been 10 times happier if we'd got the win."

England U20: Tom Homer (London Irish); Christian Wade (London Wasps), Andrew Forsyth (Leicester Tigers), Tom Casson (Harlequins), Sam Smith (Harlequins); Rory Clegg (Harlequins), Charlie Davies (Stade Francais); Joe Marler (Harlequins), Jamie George (Saracens), Shaun Knight (Gloucester), Calum Green (Leicester Tigers), Charlie Matthews (Harlequins), Jamie Gibson (London Irish), Jacob Rowan (Leeds Carnegie, captain), Jackson Wray (Saracens).

Replacements: Arthur Ellis (London Wasps) for George 53, Lee Imiolek (Sale Sharks) for Marler 53, George Kruis (Saracens) for Welch 55-65, Will Welch (Newcastle Falcons) for Wray 50, Sam Harrison (Leicester Tigers) for Davies 41, Freddie Burns (Gloucester) for Clegg 54, Jonny May (Gloucester) for Forsyth 41.

Scorers: Tries: Smith, May. Penalties: Homer 2