It was the French who caught the eye in round one with six of their eight teams winning, including Stade Rochelais and Toulon away from home.
Mark Mapletoft’s side demonstrated their ability to squeeze teams in that last four success, holding the Irish scoreless in the second half to win 31-20 after leading 22-20 at the interval.
The French, who are chasing a fourth successive world title in a row, swatted aside New Zealand 55-31 in their semi-final last Sunday.
The French, who are chasing a fourth successive world title in a row, swatted aside New Zealand 55-31 in their semi-final last Sunday.
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.
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).
Budgets, players to watch, arrivals and departures - and an overview of each club at the start of the new season. Welcome to the Rugby Pass club-by-club Top 14 season preview
Budgets, players to watch, arrivals and departures - and an overview of each club at the start of the new season. Welcome to the Rugby Pass club-by-club Top 14 season preview