Beaten 26-27 by an 80th-minute Baby Blacks penalty in a July 4 pool match in Stellenbosch, the French only reached the last four as the tournament’s best runner-up across the three pools courtesy of last Tuesday’s victory over Wales.
It's semi-finals Sunday at the World Rugby U20 Championship and following last Tuesday’s weather-affected schedule, the hope will be that all six matches will be played to an 80-minute conclusion unlike on match day three when there were just four and a half matches completed due to the heavy rain making pitches unplayable.
Knowing they effectively had a ‘gimme’ versus minnows Spain on match day three, they rested numerous first-choice players but they will now run out at the DHL Stadium with a team that has 10 alterations from last Tuesday in Stellenbosch.
Three matches are scheduled for Stellenbosch: Ireland vs Georgia (kick-off 2pm local), France vs New Zealand (4:30pm) and South Africa vs Argentina (7pm). Over in Athlone, Wales vs Spain is the opening match (2pm) followed by England vs Fiji (4:30pm) and Australia vs Italy (7pm).
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 backs for their eagerly anticipated clash with the French.
The Spanish have the honour of opening the pool the DHL Stadium this Saturday, taking on a French team that didn’t fire on all cylinders in a Six Nations campaign that only merited third place.
Last month it was all go when the 41-year-old guided England to three successive wins Six Nations Festival wins in Parma.
After a dramatic South Africa victory in the opening game of round three, it came down to Australia and New Zealand in what was essentially a final for The Rugby Championship U20's inaugural title.
Putting his French contacts to good use, Lee Byrne dismisses claims of rancour in the French camp and warns that Wales must be switched to deliver a quarter-final win.
Warren Gatland says his Wales side will have a few new tricks up their sleeve when they play Australia in what is potentially a Rugby World Cup Pool D decider at the Tokyo Stadium on Sunday.