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Live blog: Junior World Championship in South Africa – day three
By Liam Heagney
It’s day three at what has so far proven to be a thrilling 2023 Junior World Championship in South Africa. The dozen U20s teams at the tournament have royally entertained and the expectation is that rugby fans will again revel in the latest six matches that are set to be played across two venues.
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The original schedule was for Paarl and Athlone to each stage three matches on Tuesday. However, the epic muddy, rain-sodden round two drama of last Thursday has resulted in the damaged pitch at Paarl getting rested and Stellenbosch being sprung back into action.
Danie Craven Stadium is where the round three programme will now begin, Italy taking on Georgia at 11am local time with both countries knowing they are still in with an excellent chance of making the semi-finals from Pool C following their respective brilliant victories over South Africa and Argentina, the teams who will conclude Tuesday’s schedule with a 7pm clash in Athlone.
In between, the grieving Ireland will tackle Fiji at 1:30pm in Stellenbosch, with their table-topping Pool B rivals England in action versus Australia from 2pm in Athlone.
Richie Murphy’s Irish squad learned on Monday afternoon that Greig Olivier, the father of scrum-half Jack, was tragically killed in a paragliding accident in Cape Town.
Meanwhile, the Pool A details are New Zealand versus Japan at 4pm in Stellenbosch followed by table toppers France against Wales at 4:30pm in Athlone. As it stands, pool leaders France (10 points), England (eight points) and Argentina (five points) occupy the semi-final qualification positions, with Ireland (eight points) currently the best runner-up.
However, there is no guarantee that France versus Ireland and England versus Argentina will ultimately be next Sunday’s semi-final line-up, such is the quality and the competitiveness of this fantastic tournament.
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In other words, buckle up and brace yourself for a fabulous day of age-grade rugby on the RugbyPass live blog:
Very unfortunate for Georgia. Head-to-head should come into it ONLY if the teams cannot be separated by points and goal difference. This is an injustice.
I'm not entirely sure what went wrong with England's back play that had looked so slick against Ireland. Now for France and the hope that the English forwards can stop Posolo!
The Aussies were superb, truly. England's defense and physicality kept them in the game, but the amount of phases the Aussies went through at times, their persistence, and their tenacity. I applaud you Aussies, I'd say a draw seems a fair result but the type of rugby you played was outstanding.