New Zealand's Milford Keresoma scored the first hat-trick of this year's IRB Junion World Championship © Image SA

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News: Race for JWC glory down to final four

Tournaments/Tours: IRB Junior World Championship

Teams: England | Ireland | New Zealand | Wales

Defending champions New Zealand notched the biggest win on the opening day of this year's IRB Junior World Championship against Samoa with Ireland causing the biggest upset with victory over hosts South Africa.

The Baby Blacks, looking to extend their unbeaten run in the competition and capture a fifth successive title, swept past Samoa 63-0 at the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch with winger Milford Keresoma grabbing the first hat-trick of the competition. Wales set up a potential Pool A decider against New Zealand with a 44-18 success against Fiji earlier in the day. The two unbeaten sides will play each other on Friday night.

England set the early pace in Pool B thanks to a 64-5 thumping of Italy at the University of Western Cape Stadium in Cape Town. London Irish winger Marland Yarde led the way with two of England's nine tries. Elsewhere in Pool B, Ireland stunned the home crowd with a 23-19 over South Africa to severely dent the hosts' title chances. Lock Iain Henderson struck with what proved to be the match-winning try just past the hour mark with a superb defensive effort keeping South Africa at bay. Ireland will be hoping for another upset when they tackle England next in Friday's second round of matches.

Australia were the other big winners on day one with a 67-12 thrashing of Scotland in Cape Town. Lock Jed Holloway grabbed a brace - including a first minute score - as the Australians ran in an impressive 11 tries. Argentina are on their heels in the Pool C table after a surprising 18-15 victory over France who were semi-finalists in last year's competition.