Australia has kick started its Junior World Cup campaign with a 34-22 bonus point win over Samoa in Italy.

Rebels fullback Jonah Placid scored two of Australia’s five tries, however it was captain Andrew Kellaway who sealed the result for the young Wallabies, crossing late in the match to become the competitions all time leading try-scorer.

After leading 15-8 at half time, Australia took control at the set piece, leading to an Andrew Deegan try.

Samoa hit back from a driving maul to reduce the gap to just five, but couldn’t match the class of the Australian back line late in the match, with tries to Placid and Kellaway sealing the bonus point win.

“It was a bit scrappy but all in all it was a good win. We’ll go away and work on what we need to work on for the next game but all in all, happy with the win,” Kellaway told World Rugby after the match.

“We really respected Samoa and certainly expected them to go the full 80,” he added.

Australian coach Adrian Thompson said he was satisfied with the win, but knows his side will need to get better to challenge the competitions better sides.

The lineouts and the breakdown needs improvement and we will be looking at this in the coming days before we take on Italy.

Australia plays Italy on Sunday morning (AEST), before facing South Africa in its final pool match on Thursday.

Australia 34 (Michael Gunn, Jonah Placid 2, Andrew Deegan, Andrew Kellaway tries; Andrew Deegan 2 cons; Andrew Deegan pens;) defeated Samoa 22 (Trent Winterstein, Joshua Dowsing, Jarred Adams tries; Josh Ioane, Malu Falankino 2 cons; pens).