The top 50 prospects under 23 years of age currently plying their trade in New Zealand features three capped All Blacks already.
The soon to be 37-year-old finished up finished a four-season stint earlier this year in Japan League One, spending two years with Saitama Wild Knights after joining from Scarlets and then two more campaigns with Black Rams Tokyo.
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 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).
It’s the sort of programme that should have rugby fans having two gadgets on the go at the same time so that none of the action is missed as it happens. RugbyPass TV will be streaming all games live and for free in countries that don't have an exclusive local broadcaster deal.
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.
New Zealand U20 head coach Jono Gibbes has named a 23-man team to play South Africa on the Sunshine Coast in the inaugural U20 Rugby Championship opener.
Mosese Bason won the DJ Graham Medal as the best player in the Super Rugby Under 20 tournament in Taupo.