The All Blacks Sevens will usher in a new era from November 30 to December 1 when the 2024/25 HSBC SVNS Series in Dubai.
The top 50 prospects under 23 years of age currently plying their trade in New Zealand features three capped All Blacks already.
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).
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 New Zealand U20 have opened their World Championship campaign in South Africa with a 41-34 win over a resilient Wales side.
New Zealand U20 opener their U20 Championship campaign against Wales U20 on Sunday morning (NZST).