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Trophy win allows Japan Under-20s rejoin the world's elite in 2020 age-grade championship

Kai Yamamoto leaped into action for Japan in the 2018 World Rugby Under-20 Championship match against New Zealand in Narbonne (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

The World Rugby Under-20 Trophy, the second tier of global age-grade rugby, has proven to be a good breeding ground for talent in recent years, despite the competing sides not boasting the player pools or the resources of their counterparts in the World Rugby Under-20 Championship.

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The tournament, plus targeted funding from World Rugby, has allowed Georgia to establish themselves within the Championship after years of coming close in the Trophy. Last year’s promoted side, Fiji, were also able to avoid relegation in June, as Scotland were condemned to at least a year in the Trophy in their place.

Scotland will now join the hosts, which RugbyPass understands could be Spain, in next year’s Trophy, as well as the regional qualifiers from each continent. Teams such as Uruguay, Hong Kong, Portugal and Canada are regular participants, while the Oceania Rugby qualifier will be a shootout between Tonga and Samoa.

One team Scotland will not be joining in the Trophy, however, is Japan. The Asian side secured qualification back to the Championship on Sunday, beating Portugal in a nail-biting 35-34 win at the Estadio Martins Pereira, just outside São Paulo.

This will be the fourth time that Japan have competed in the Championship, with the Baby Blossoms having only ever spent one-year stints in the competition as they have been immediately relegated back to the Trophy.

Japan will be hoping to buck that trend in Italy, hosts for the 2020 tournament, as they also seek to use the legacy of the 2019 Rugby World Cup to help catapult Japanese rugby to a level where they can consistently compete with tier one nations.

Two of the stars of this Japanese side, Shota Fukui and Halatoa Vailea, will graduate from under-20 rugby this year and head coach Yoshitake Mizuma will need to find new difference-makers to lean upon next season. In fact, a total of 20 players from this year’s squad will no longer be eligible in 2020, giving Mizuma plenty of work to do over the next ten months.

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As celebrations went on in Japan, there was frustration in Portugal as the European side came within inches of qualifying for the Championship. Had they been able to, they would have been the only non-tier one European side, apart from Georgia, to qualify for the Championship in its 12-year history.

With a number of their key players returning for next year, Portugal will be among the favourites to qualify again for the Trophy, where they would join Scotland and, if they are granted rights to host the tournament, Spain, in a competition that looks like it will have a very European flavour.

WATCH: The latest RugbyPass documentary, Foden – Stateside, looks at how ex-England international Ben Foden is settling into Major League Rugby in New York

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Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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