After a thrilling group stage, the World Rugby U20s Championships heads into the knockout rounds on Sunday.
Three weekends of action saw France top the overall standings at the end of the pool stage, with Les Bleuets joined in the semi-finals by fellow unbeaten sides Ireland and England, plus hosts South Africa after they edged out Georgia to top spot in Pool C.
All 12 nations will be in action as play-offs for 5-8th and 9-12th places take place alongside the semi-finals in Athlone, where the list of possible winners will be whittled down to two.
Grand Slam champions look to spoil home party
With two comfortable wins and a thrilling draw against England under their belt, Six Nations Under-20s Grand Slam champions Ireland will be pleased with their work so far in South Africa.
In the way of a first final since 2016 are the hosts, who bounced back from defeat to Italy to sneak through to the last four thanks to a late victory over Argentina.
Having rotated heavily for their final pool stage match against Fiji, Ireland head coach Richie Murphy has made 11 changes ahead of the semi-final encounter.
Captain Gus McCarthy returns at hooker in place of Danny Sheahan, who picked up Man of the Match against Fiji, while Paddy McCarthy and Ronan Foxe also come back into the front row with Charlie Irvine and Conor O’Tighearnaigh reunited in the second row.
Sam Prendergast and Fintan Gunne combine in the half backs, with John Devine and Hugh Gavin outside them. James Nicholson, Andrew Osborne, and Henry McErlean complete the back three.
Ireland team to face South Africa: 15 Henry McErlean, 14 Andrew Osborne, 13 Hugh Gavin, 12 John Devine, 11 James Nicholson, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Fintan Gunne; 1 Paddy McCarthy, 2 Gus McCarthy, 3 Ronan Foxe, 4 Charlie Irvine, 5 Conor O’Tighearnaigh, 6 Diarmuid Mangan, 7 Ruadhán Quinn, 8 Brian Gleeson
Replacements: 16 Danny Sheahan, 17 George Hadden, 18 Fiachna Barrett 19 Evan O’Connell, 20 Dan Barron, 21 Oscar Cawley, 22 Matthew Lynch, 23 Sam Berman
Rivalry reignites for place in final
France versus England is rarely without fireworks, and more can be expected in South Africa on Sunday with a place in the World Rugby U20s Championships final on the line.
France have led from the front so far in South Africa, posting three wins from three and racking up 153 points in the process including a 75-12 blitz of Japan.
They face an England side who they comfortably beat 42-7 in this year’s Six Nations, but will have taken confidence from draws with Ireland and Australia alongside a comfortable victory over Fiji.
Just five players remain from France’s victory against Wales in their final group stage match, as Les Bleuets return to the line-up that served them so well in their opening two fixtures, with just Zaccharie Affane and Posolo Tuilagi remaining in the forwards.
The backs sees Nicolas Depoortere, Mael Moustin, and Theo Attissogbe the survivors, with all three returning to more familiar territory after shifting across the back line last time out.
For England it is five changes from the side that drew with Australia, with Archie McArthur coming into the front row for Asher Opoku-Fordjour and Harry Browne replacing Finn Carnduff in the second row.
Louie Johnson gets the nod at fly-half ahead of Connor Slevin, while Tobias Elliott and Joe Jenkins also come into the backs for Jacob Cusick and Rekeiti Ma’asi-White.
“It’s extremely exciting to be involved in the semi-final stages of the competition,” said head coach Mark Mapletoft. “The squad have worked very hard to be here and they thoroughly deserve it.
“They are an ambitious bunch that I know will not want to settle for just making it this far. We are coming up against a tough French side, but if we stick to our processes, it has all the makings of a great game of rugby.
“We have prepared well and can’t wait to take to the field on Sunday.”
France team to face England: 15 Mathis Ferte, 14. Maël Moustin, 13 Nicolas Depoortere, 12 Paul Costes, 11 Théo Attisogbe, 10 Hugo Reus, 9. Baptiste Jauneau; 1 Louis Penverne, 2 Pierre Jouvin, 3 Zaccharie Affane, 4 Hugo Auradou, 5 Posolo Tuilagi, 6 Lenni Nouchi (c), 7 Oscar Jégou, 8 Marko Gazzotti
Replacements: 16 Thomas Lacombre, 17 Lino Julien, 18 Thomas Duchêne, 19 Brent Liufau, 20 Mathis Castro-Ferreira, 21 Andy Timo, 22 Léo Carbonneau, 23 Arthur Mathiron
England team to face France: 15 Sam Harris, 14 Tobias Elliott, 13 Joe Jenkins, 12 Joseph Woodward, 11 Cassius Cleaves, 10 Louie Johnson, 9 Charlie Bracken; 1 Archie McArthur, 2 Nathan Jibulu, 3 Afolabi Fasogbon, 4 Harry Browne, 5 Lewis Chessum, 6 Nathan Michelow, 7 Greg Fisilau, 8 Chandler Cunningham-South
Replacements: 16 Finn Theobald-Thomas, 17 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 18 James Halliwell, 19 Finn Carnduff, 20 Tristan Woodman, 21 Nye Thomas, 22 Connor Slevin, 23 Rekiti Ma’asi-White
Wales need passion to get past Georgia
Wales take on Georgia in Paarl in the second semi-final in the 5th-9th place play-off after a third-place finish in Pool A for Mark Jones’ men.
Victory against Japan sandwiched between defeats to New Zealand and France will have left Wales wanting more, and victory against Georgia would be the perfect way to respond.
Jones has made three changes to his starting XV ahead of the contest, with Llien Morgan coming in on the wing for the injured Cameron Winnett and Harri Houston moving to full-back to accommodate.
Joe Westwood makes his first start at inside centre in place of Bryn Bradley, while Lewis Lloyd comes in for Sam Scarfe at hooker.
“We’re in that knock-out scenario now we’re going to be fighting for that fifth ranking opportunity,” said Jones.
“We want to give ourselves the best chance of fighting for that fifth and sixth spot final and we feel the selection keeps some cohesion within the group whilst freshening it up in a few positions as well.
“I’m always confident with this group of boys because I know they have got potential but sometimes it’s about how well you execute doing what you are trying to do.
“We’ll find out from our boys how passionate they are around how they want to give themselves a shot at finishing fifth – that’s the key for us.
“We’ve won one game, put in some decent performances in blocks but we are still waiting for that performance that we can look back on and say, ‘wow we got pretty much 80 to 90 per cent of that game nailed. We’re hoping all the time that this is the one.”
Wales team to face Georgia: 15 Harri Houston, 14 Tom Florence, 13 Louie Hennessey, 12 Joe Westwood, 11 Llien Morgan, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Archie Hughes; 1 Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths, 2 Lewis Lloyd, 3 Kian Hire, 4 Liam Edwards, 5 Jonny Green, 6 Ryan Woodman (c), 7 Seb Driscoll, 8 Morgan Morse
Replacements: 16 Lewis Morgan, 17 Josh Morse, 18 Louis Fletcher, 19 Mackenzie Martin, 20 Lucas de La Rua, 21 Bryan Bradley, 22 Harri Wilde, 23 Harri WIlliams
Italy face Fiji
The first action of the day comes in Paarl, as Italy take on Fiji in the first 9th-12th place play-off semi-final.
Italy will count themselves unfortunate to be in the bottom bracket, after beating South Africa 34-26 but finishing bottom of a tough pool after defeats to Georgia and Argentina.
Those performances should give them plenty of confidence against a Fiji side who have found life tough in South Africa with three defeats so far.
Head coach Massimo Brunello has made six changes from defeat to Georgia, with captain Giovanni Quattrini and Samuele Taddei coming back into the front row, while Enrico Pontarini replaces Pietro Turrisi in the second row.
Filippo Lavorenti comes in for Fabio Ruaro at blindside flanker in the last of four changes to the pack, while Sebastiano Battara lines up alongside Simone Brisighella in the half-backs in place of Lorenzo Casilio and Matthias Leon Douglas replaces Francesco Bini in the back three.
“We’re going to face a complicated match, against a very physical team, not particularly organized when playing without possession, but extremely dangerous with the ball in hand, especially in broken play,” said Brunello.
“Certainly the weather conditions will play an important role for our strategy, they have already worsened a lot today, but between Saturday and Sunday they are expected to worsen further.
“Regardless of everything, the best possible performance will be needed, paying close attention to every detail and discipline and immediately entering the game with the right attitude.”
Italy team to face Fiji: 15 Alessandro Gesi, 14 Lorenzo Elettri, 13 Dewi Passarella, 12 Nicola Bozzo, 11 Matthias Leon Douglas, 10. Simone Brisighella, 9 Sebastiano Battara; 1 Samuele Taddei, 2 Giovanni Quattrini (c), 3 Marcos Francesco Gallorini, 4 Enrico Pontarini, 5 Alex Mattioli, 6 Filippo Workers, 7 David Odiase, 8 Jacopo Botturi
Replacements: 16 Nicholas Gaseprini, 17 Riccardo Bartolini, 18 Federico Domenico Pisani, 19 Carlos Berlese, 20 Matteo Rubinato, 21 Lorenzo Casilio, 22 Filippo Bozzoni, 23 Giovanni Sante
