England flew out of South Africa last Saturday evening to Heathrow as the rightful champions, the consistency of their potent scrum and manipulative defence helping them to a deserved first title since 2016.
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.
Wales versus defending champions France in Pool A is essentially a play-off to decide who clinches the single best runner-up spot available to progress to the semi-finals, while Ireland against Australia at the same Athlone venue on the Cape Flats is a knockout clash to decide who tops Pool B.
Three matches are scheduled for Athlone: Ireland-Australia (2pm local time), France-Wales (4:30pm) and South Africa-England (7pm). Over in Stellenbosch, it’s Argentina-Fiji (2pm), Georgia-Italy (4:30pm) and New Zealand-Spain (7pm).
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).
It will be round three in Athlone on July 9 when that fancied duo – last year’s beaten semi-finalists – go head-to-head in an intriguing group that also contains a dangerous Argentina and a little known Fiji.
It will be round three in Athlone on July 9 when that fancied duo – last year’s beaten semi-finalists – go head-to-head in an intriguing group that also contains a dangerous Argentina and a little known Fiji.
South Africa came out of the blocks firing and it took just 45 seconds for star centre Julius the Boogieman Jurenzo to carve through four defenders and score
South Africa came out of the blocks firing and it took just 45 seconds for star centre Julius the Boogieman Jurenzo to carve through four defenders and score
Coach Alvaro Galindo had to make some “difficult” selection decisions when picking the Argentina Pumitas team to take on tournament hosts Australia.