JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW
WHEN IS THE WORLD RUGBY U20 CHAMPIONSHIP? THE tournament gets underway on June 7, when all 12 teams will play their first match. France v Argentina and South Africa v Japan both kick off at 3:15pm. WHERE IS IT? MANCHESTER is the host city for this year’s Championship and there are just two grounds being used.
The AJ Bell Stadium, the home of Aviva Premiership side Sale Sharks, and Manchester City’s academy will be used. Wales play twice at the latter before playing their final game at the AJ Bell. WHO ARE WALES PLAYING? JASON Strange’s side kick off their campaign against Ireland and go on to face Georgia before the final group game against New Zealand. WALES v Ireland, June 7, 5:30pm, Manchester City Academy Stadium. WALES v Georgia, June 11, 3:45pm, Manchester City Stadium. NEW Zealand v Wales, June 15, 5:30pm, AJ Bell Stadium. HOW THE TOURNAMENT WORKS WALES won’t necessarily have to beat New Zealand to get out of their group.
After the third round of matches, the top three sides will progress to the semi-final, along with the fourth placed team overall, which is the one with the most competition points. It’s then a standard knockout competition from then on. The teams that don’t qualify will be ranked and will all compete in a play-off which will be 5th v 6th, 7th v 8th, 9th v 10th and 11th v 12th to determine overall standings. POOL A: Georgia, Ireland, Wales, New Zealand POOL B: England, Australia, Italy, Scotland POOL C: Argentina, France, Japan, South Africa IS IT ON TV? IF you can’t get up to Manchester, don’t panic! S4C are broadcasting all of Wales’ matches live. WHO IS IN THE WALES SQUAD? FORWARDS: Tom Phillips (captain, Scarlets), Rhys Fawcett (Scarlets), Corey Domachowski (Blues), Leon Brown (Dragons), Kieron Assiratti (Blues), Dillon Lewis (Blues), Liam Belcher (Blues), Dafydd Hughes (Scarlets), Adam Beard (Ospreys), Seb Davies (Blues), Shane Lewis-Hughes (Blues), Shaun Evans (Scarlets), Harrison Keddie (Dragons), Morgan Sieniawski (Blues), Josh Macleod (Scarlets). BACKS: Reuben Morgan-Williams (Ospreys), Declan Smith (Scarlets), Daniel Jones (Scarlets), Billy McBryde (Scarlets), Jarrod Evans (Blues), Kieran Williams (Ospreys), Joe Thomas (Ospreys), Harri Millard (Blues), Tom Williams (Ospreys), Jared Rosser (Dragons), Keelan Giles (Ospreys), Rhun Williams (RGC 1404), Joe Gage (Ospreys).