Rugby: Juniors victorious at Cup opener despite disruptions

The revolving door at the Junior All Blacks' hotel continues to get plenty of use, with hooker Aled de Malmanche and flanker George Whitelock the latest to use it as an exit.

The pair departed for Fiji yesterday just hours after arriving from Samoa after being called into the All Blacks squad for the second test against France.

Hurricanes hooker Ged Robinson was called up to replace De Malmanche, while his teammate Karl Lowe, an original selection who left the squad to attend the birth of a child, was due to return to replace Whitelock.

Highlanders flanker Alando Soaki, already with the squad as cover for Lowe, was to remain with the team. With wing Lelia Masaga also having joined the All Blacks, co-coach Ian Foster admitted his heavily-disrupted side was relieved to have escaped from Apia with a 17-16 victory in Saturday's Pacific Nations Cup opener.

"We are pretty pleased actually," Foster said after Hosea Gear and Israel Dagg scored early tries before the Juniors withstood a furious second-half Samoan comeback. "It was a game we pretty much had control over at 14-0 and 17-6 up but we made a pretty careless mistake and they scored a try and got their tails up.

"It was full-on war for the last 15 minutes."

With Fiji having also notched an impressive opening round win, 36-22 over Tonga in Nuku'alofa, Thursday's match against the Juniors in Lautoka will go a long way to deciding the tournament.