The second round of the 2014 IRB Junior World Championships take place tomorrow morning with all four home nations involved in big fixtures.
Probably the biggest of the lot in terms of Home Nations rivalry is Wales U20 v Ireland U20 at 06.35 tomorrow morning. Wales currently top Group B after a crushing victory over Fiji on Monday, while Ireland, the U20 Six Nations champions, are in third after securing a losing bonus point against the French.
Those results make this one crucial, with all three sides still with a strong chance of progressing. Victory for Wales would put them in pole position, but a victory for Ireland would really blast things open.
England’s campaign continues against Australia, also at 06.30. We have previewed that game elsewhere (England v Australia) but it looks likely that this game will be the Group decider after both enjoyed strong wins over Italy and Argentina respectively on Monday.
In Group C Scotland face what ought to be their ‘easiest’ fixture of the pool. They are paired with both South Africa and New Zealand but face the slightly less daunting Samoa at 02.35 tomorrow morning.
It will be no easy task though, despite a heavy defeat to the Baby Blacks, Samoa looked tough, while Scotland really suffered at the hands of the South Africans. That said, the Scots ought to be the favourites.
Globally speaking, the biggest fixture of the day will be that between the hosts, New Zealand, and South Africa. That game kicks off at 08.35 and ought to be the Group decider – and it could well dictate the outcome of the entire tournament when you consider that semi final seedings are also up for grabs.
JWC Round 2 Fixtures:
Group A
Argentina v Italy – 04.35
England v Australia – 06.35
Group B
France v Fiji – 02.35
Wales v Ireland – 06.35
Group C
Scotland v Samoa – 02.35
New Zealand v South Africa – 08.35
Home Nations & Opponents Squads:
England U20 XV:
1 Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi (Northampton Saints)Â 2 Tom Woolstencroft (Bath)Â 3 Paul Hill (Leeds Carnegie)Â 4 Maro Itoje (Saracens, captain)Â 5 Charlie Ewels (Bath)Â 6 Ross Moriarty (Gloucester)Â 7 Gus Jones (London Wasps)Â 8 Joel Conlon (Exeter Chiefs);Â 9 Henry Taylor (Loughborough University)Â 10 Billy Burns (Gloucester)Â 11 Nathan Earle (Saracens)Â 12 Harry Sloan (Harlequins)Â 13 Nick Tompkins (Saracens)Â 14 Henry Purdy (Leicester Tigers)Â 15 Howard Packman (Northampton Saints).
Replacements: 16 Jack Walker 17 Alex Lundberg 18 Harry Rudkin 19 Hayden Thompson-Stringer 20 James Chisholm 21 Callum Braley 22 Sam Olver 23 Aaron Morris.
Australia U20 XV:
1 Rory O’Connor 2 Harry Scobie 3 Allan Alaalatoa 4 Matt Phillip 5 Tom Staniforth 6 Sean McMahon (captain) 7 Rowan Perry 8 Ross Haylett-Petty; 9 Joe Powell 10 Jake McIntyre 11 Andrew Kellaway 12 Jimmy Stewart 13 Lalakai Foketi 14 Brad Lacey 15 Jonah Placid.
Replacements: 16 Feleti Kaitu’u 17 Cameron Orr 18 Tom Robertson 19 Jack Payne 20 Jack Dempsey 21 Angus Pulver 22 David Horowitz 23 Luke Burton.
Wales U20 XV:
1 Nicky Smith 2 Elliot Dee 3 Nicky Thomas 4 Joseph Davies 5 Rory Thornton 6 Olly Cracknell 7 Will Boyde 8 James Benjamin; 9 Luc Jones 10 Angus O’Brien 11 Joshua Adams 12 Jack Dixon 13 Steffan Hughes (Captain) 14 Tyler Morgan 15 Ashley Evans.
Replacements: 16 Scott Otten 17 Luke Garett 18 Callum Lewis 19 Scott Andrews 20 Scott Matthews 21 Tom Williams 22 Ethan Davies 23 Afon Bagshaw.
Ireland U20 XV:
1 Peter Dooley 2 Max Abbott 3 Rory Burke 4 Darragh Moloney 5 Ross Molony 6 Peadar Timmins 7 Frank Taggart 8 Jack O’Donoghue (captain); 9 Nick McCarthy 10 Ross Byrne 11 Alex Wooton 12 Dan Goggin 13 Garry Ringrose 14 Ciaran Gaffney 15 Cian Kelleher.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Donnellan 17 Denis Coulson 18 Oisin Herrernan 10 Josh Murphy 20 Diamaid Dee 21 Ryan Foley 22 Conor McKeon 23 Harrison Brewer.
Scotland U20 XV:
1 Phil Cringle 2 Sam James 3 Darcy Rae 4 Andy Cramond 5 Glen Young 6 James Ritchie 7 Gabriel Carroll 8 Tommy Spinks (captain); 9 Alex Glashan 10 Rory Hutchinson 11 Sam Pecquer 12 Neil Herron 13 Blair Hutchinson 14 Jamie Farndale 15 Damien Hoyland.
Replacements: 16 Cameron Fenton 17 Jack Cosgrove 19 Zander Fagerson 19 Lewis Carmichael 20 Magnus Bradbury 21 Ben Vellacott 22 Gavin Lowe 23 Christopher Dean.
Samoa U20 XV:
1 Fereti Saaga 2 Leif Schwenke 3 Etimani Sului 4 Giovanni Havel Kueffner 5 Cameron Skelton 6 Jotham Wrampling 7 Henry Stowers (captain) 8 Richard Mariota; 9 Emil Pittman 10 William Talataina Mu 11 Harry Luteru 12 Paul Ah Him 13 Nathaniel Apa 14 Joseph Ikenasio 15 Luteru Laulala.
Replacements: 16 Ieremia Mataena 17 Andrew Lemalu 18 Louis Kapeteni 19 Alamanda Motuga 20 Joe Lee 21 Mark Talaese 2 Penaia Penaia 23 Nu’u Nu’u.
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