The stage is set for both NPC semi-finals with Bay of Plenty, Canterbury, Wellington and Waikato naming their teams.
The top 50 prospects under 23 years of age currently plying their trade in New Zealand features three capped All Blacks already.
All 10 clubs have named their teams and numerous selections catch the eye. For instance, Beno Obano, whose red card was influential in tilting last June’s Twickenham showpiece result in favour of Northampton, has completed his suspension and is a Bath starter at The Rec.
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.
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 was the ideal way for the Cherry and Whites to resume their league campaign, seven days after defeating the Tigers in the Premiership Rugby Cup final, with Italy scrum-half Stephen Varney scoring a late winning try.
Stephen Varney’s late try allowed Gloucester to get the better of Leicester for a second Friday night in a row as they resumed their Gallagher Premiership campaign with a dramatic 27-25 victory.
Double Rugby World Cup-winning prop, Steven Kitshoff, stands on the brink of making his debut for the Irish province Ulster this weekend against Glasgow Warriors.
Double Rugby World Cup-winning prop, Steven Kitshoff, stands on the brink of making his debut for the Irish province Ulster this weekend against Glasgow Warriors.