Analysis
World Rugby U20 Championship match day two game by game guide
Three matches are scheduled for Stellenbosch: Ireland vs Georgia (kick-off 2pm local), France vs New Zealand (4:30pm) and South Af…
Liam Heagney
03 Jul 2024, 3:03
Contributors
Liam Heagney
@heagneyl
A seasoned rugby journalist, Liam hails from Limerick and has covered World Cups, Lions tours, Six Nations Championships and European Cup campaigns since 2000. He became a content editor at RugbyPass in 2019 after joining from the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday in Ireland.
Interview
Getting to Know: England U20s loosehead Asher Opoku-Fordjour
A year ago he was coming to the age-grade event in Cape Town off the back of a challenging season in England. Part of the Wasps ac…
Liam Heagney
03 Jul 2024, 2:42
Interview
Harry McLaughlin-Phillips: 'I've got a pretty cruisy lifestyle'
A veteran of last year’s age-grade tournament where the Aussies placed fifth, the straight-shooting No10 has returned to South A…
Liam Heagney
03 Jul 2024, 2:28
Interview
The Finn Carnduff verdict on England U20s making 12 changes
What the wholesale shake-up said about England is that they trust their strength in depth, but also that skipper Finn Carnduff is …
Liam Heagney
02 Jul 2024, 12:50
Baby Blacks change five for massive U20s clash with champions France
The Kiwis got the show on the road with a 41-34 Pool A win over Wales at Athlone and they have now changed three forwards and two …
Liam Heagney
02 Jul 2024, 11:31
Ireland U20s confirm seven changes for match day two versus Georgia
The Irish were impressive 55-15 opening day winners over Italy last Saturday at DHL Stadium and Willie Faloon has now changed four…
Liam Heagney
02 Jul 2024, 10:14
Mapletoft names England U20s team showing 12 changes to face Fiji
The English were impressive 40-21 comeback winners over Argentina on opening day at the Championship last Saturday and coach Mark …
Liam Heagney
02 Jul 2024, 9:51
Junior Boks make three changes, opt for a six/two bench split
The age-grade South Africans got their World Rugby U20 Championship off to a winning start with a 57-7 victory over Fiji last Satu…
Liam Heagney
02 Jul 2024, 9:25
Junior Wallabies fly in four replacements for match day two
Four players were ruled out through injury following the 35-11 win and will miss the remainder of the tournament. Meanwhile, lock …
Liam Heagney
02 Jul 2024, 8:59
Interview
Fagmie Solomons: 'If you play there they will burn down this house’
It turned out that the welcoming host was rugby royalty, none other than Fagmie ‘Fluffy’ Solomons. He was the ridiculously tal…
Liam Heagney
02 Jul 2024, 2:57
Interview
Getting to know: France U20s out-half Hugo Reus
Reus was only a late confirmation in the French squad, as it wasn’t until La Rochelle were eliminated from the Top 14 at the sem…
Liam Heagney
02 Jul 2024, 2:37
Interview
The England U20 verdict on 17-year-old debut maker Lucas Friday
The hat-trick scoring jack Bracken wasn’t the player that coach Mark Mapletoft reserved special praise for in the aftermath of t…
Liam Heagney
01 Jul 2024, 3:59
Interview
Getting to know: Wales U20s openside Lucas de la Rua
Lucas de la Rua was the starting Wales No7 on both occasions and his year in between these age-grade World Cup clashes featured a …
Liam Heagney
01 Jul 2024, 3:16
Analysis
Four talking points after World Rugby U20 Championship day one
Saturday’s opening round of the 2024 World Rugby U20 Championship produced a feast of age-grade entertainment. There were some e…
Liam Heagney
30 Jun 2024, 5:27
Exclusive
Junior Kpoku: 'That wasn't down to me, it was all behind closed doors'
The dramatic thing is, he wasn’t long packing up again in Devon and taking a giant October leap across the Channel. Stuart Lanca…
Liam Heagney
30 Jun 2024, 3:11
Interview
Eddie Andrews: 'We've seen players commit suicide... I was fortunate'
What took place in 2004 is the reference point for this particular interview as that two-game series heralded the arrival of Andre…
Liam Heagney
30 Jun 2024, 3:09
Interview
Junior Boks boss Bafana Nhleko: ‘Two things stand out for me’
The Junior Boks spluttered their way into the semi-finals at the 2023 World Rugby U20 Championship, inconsistencies that Ireland e…
Liam Heagney
30 Jun 2024, 3:02
Interview
The Faloon, O’Connell verdict as Ireland U20s soothe Italian pain
Numerous winning teams caught the eye on Saturday across the opening round of the World Rugby U20 Championship, but Ireland deserv…
Liam Heagney
30 Jun 2024, 2:40
Interview
Jack Bracken: 'Third try was pretty good; lucky with the bounce'
Jack Bracken wasn’t part of the England squad that clinched the Six Nations U20s title 15 weeks ago, yet he was in Cape Town on …
Liam Heagney
30 Jun 2024, 2:16
Live blog: World Rugby U20 Championship 2024 in Cape Town – Day One
Five of the Six Nations countries and all four Rugby Championship participants are now in South Africa along with Georgia, Spain a…
Liam Heagney
29 Jun 2024, 5:58
