The World Rugby U20 Championship 2016 continues on Saturday with plenty to live up to after an enthralling day that saw two upsets and some impressive displays by both defending champions New Zealand and hosts England.

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More than 5,000 tickets have been sold for the three matches at the Manchester City Academy Stadium – a record for the venue – where fans are in for a treat with New Zealand taking on Ireland and Wales facing Georgia in Pool A, before England meet Scotland in what is sure to be a hard-fought Pool B encounter.

Meanwhile, over at AJ Bell Stadium, Australia and Italy will get play underway at 13:30 in the other Pool B match, before France tackle Japan and 2012 winners South Africa close out proceedings against Argentina in Pool C.

NEW ZEALAND V IRELAND

Ireland, buoyed by their victory over Six Nations Grand Slam winners Wales, are ready to rise to the challenge of facing five-time champions New Zealand in the opening match at Manchester City Academy Stadium.

Coach Nigel Carolan has made just one enforced change to the starting line-up with Ben Betts replacing Conor Kenny at tight-head, the heaviest player in the tournament having headed home following a shoulder injury suffered in the opening minutes of the win over Wales.

“It was very pleasing to open the Championship with the win over Wales on Tuesday,” said Carolan. “While we gave them a big lead early on, I felt that we showed fantastic ambition and fight to get back into the game and we were patient to close out the win in the end.

“New Zealand is a massive game for us. They had a comprehensive win over Georgia so they will be going into this game full of confidence. Our players have recovered well and are looking forward to the challenge against the current world champions.”

The defending champions have also kept faith with their opening day line-up as coach Scott Robertson restricts his changes to the backline. Stephen Perefota comes in at fly-half while the back three is rejigged with Shaun Stevenson moving from full-back to the right wing, Malo Tuitama coming onto the left and Jordan Trainor starting at full-back.

“Any Irish side is strong and passionate,” insisted Robertson. “All the Six Nations squads are really strong, especially around set-piece, and there are some really good boys who will be a real challenge for us.

“We know their strengths around their lineout and getting down to our end of the field and putting pressure on us, so we need to mitigate this as much as we can, trust our defensive system, minimise our penalties and when we get the ball we hold on to it.”

AUSTRALIA V ITALY

Australia came into the tournament in confident mood after a first-ever victory over New Zealand at this level in the Oceania Rugby U20 Championship, but the 15-10 loss to Scotland on day one means an emphatic victory will be the target if they are to have any hope of reaching the semi-finals.

Coach Adrian Thompson has given the bulk of the side from the Scotland defeat the chance to make amends against Italy with the only change to the starting line-up an enforced one with centre Campbell Magnay serving a two-match ban after being sent-off on day one.

Sione Tuipolotu comes into the match-day squad to fill the vacated No.13 jersey alongside Nick Jooste, with the only other change seeing Lukhan Lealaiaulolo-Tui replace Harrison Hocking, the youngest player in the tournament, among the forwards on the bench.

Italy, by contrast, have rung the changes after their opening loss to England, coach Alessandro Troncon keeping only eight members for this second match with prop Marco Riccioni taking over the captaincy.

Leonardo Mantelli, who impressed at fly-half against England, is one player to keep his place against Australia, as it flanker Lorenzo Masselli, the Azzurini’s try-scorer in that opening loss.

WALES V GEORGIA

Six Nations champions Wales have made eight changes from the side stunned 26-25 by Ireland on day one as they look to bounce back with a convincing performance against 2017 Championship hosts Georgia at the Manchester City Academy Stadium.

Wales coach Jason Strange has opted for a new front row combination of Rhys Fawcett, Liam Belcher and Leon Brown, while Seb Davies replaces the suspended Adam Beard in the second row and Josh Macloed starts at openside.

Declan Smith and Jarrod Evans will form a new half-back pairing, while Billy McBryde get the nod to start at inside-centre.

“The changes are in order to give players opportunities to develop at this level, and with the four-day turnaround in between matches, it is important every one of our squad plays a full part,” explained Strange. “We need to concentrate on getting the basics right tomorrow and if we do that, we know we are a match for anyone.

“Georgia are a physical, committed side. Their scrum-half played at last year’s senior Rugby World Cup and their number eight plays for Clermont so there is no shortage of quality but if we add attacking speed to a good set-piece platform, we know we can show what we are capable of.”

Georgia, beaten 55-0 by New Zealand on their U20 Championship debut in round one, have surprisingly dropped their most experienced player, RWC 2015 scrum-half Vasil Lobzhandize to the bench with Gela Aprasidze getting the nod to start.

FRANCE V JAPAN

Both sides started their opening matches positively and enjoyed leads before France fell to Argentina and Japan slipped to defeat against France, so will be eager to pick up their first victories of the tournament on Saturday.

The big team news from Japan is that Ataata Moeakiola, who scored an 11-minute first-half hat-trick against South Africa, is named not on the right-wing as you may expect against France but at fly-half, replacing Taisetsu Kania who drops out of the match-day squad. Ren Takano takes the wing spot vacated by Moeakiola with his place on the bench filled by Hiroki Yamada.

France coach Olivier Magne has made wholesale changes with only two players keeping their places in the starting line-up after the Los Pumitas’ loss, second-row Mathieu Tanguy and Anthony Belleau, although he moves out a place to inside centre and will captain the side against Japan.

The two sides have met twice before in U20 Championship history with France recording convincing victories on both occasions, topping 45 points in their meetings in 2008 and 2015.

SOUTH AFRICA V ARGENTINA

Junior Springbok coach Dawie Theron has made six changes to the starting XV that eventually overcame a spritely Japan 59-19 for their second Pool C match against Argentina at the AJ Bell Stadium.

With wet conditions anticipated, Theron has shuffled his pack and backline with Manie Libbok and Curwin Bosch swapping positions between fly-half and full-back and Franco Naude taking over at inside centre from JT Jackson.

Up front, props Franco van den Berg and Carlü Sadie come into the starting line-up, replacing replace Kwenzo Blose and Jaco Holtzhausen, while second-row Eduard Zandberg gets the nod over Cobus Wiese for what promises to be a highly-competitive match against Argentina.

“We are expecting wet weather for this clash, so we decided to beef up our pack,” said Theron, whose side have only met Argentina once in U20 Championship history, running out 35-3 winners in the 2012 semi-finals in Cape Town.

“We also brought in Curwin Bosch at fly-half because he is the best tactical kicker in the group at this point, and in wet conditions the tactical kicking has to be good.

“Ideally we would like to play the style of rugby that we played in the second half against Japan, but the wet weather could create a challenge in that regard. However, if we produce solid set pieces, and balance that with smart tactical kicking and use our skills, hopefully the results will follow.”

Argentina, meanwhile, have suffered a blow with their captain Benito Paolucci ruled out of the tournament with a knee ligament injury. The highly-rated Marcos Kremer moves from second row to blindside flanker to fill that void with centre Juan Cruz Mallia taking over the captaincy.

There are four other changes in the starting line-up with Lautaro Bazan Velez and Bautista Stavile Bravin finding themselves on the replacements bench again despite scoring the late tries that secured the 24-15 win over France on day one.

ENGLAND V SCOTLAND

England coach Martin Haag has made six changes to take on Scotland, a side full of confidence after beating Australia and knowing that they impressively came out on top 24-6 when the two nations last met in the Six Nations.

With both teams recording opening round victories, Haag has opted for fresh legs against a Scotland team that impressed against Australia on Tuesday with captain Jack Walker replacing Jack Singleton at hooker.

There are also two debutants with winger Matt Gallagher and flanker Will Evans both selected to start, while man of the match Harry Mallinder moves from inside centre to fly-half to fill the void left by Theo Brophy Clews’ foot injury suffered against Italy.

“Training has been good, and we continue to build and improve each week, so I’m delighted with how we are developing as a squad,” insisted Haag. “It’s a short turnaround between games, we have recovered well and when we have trained it’s been at a high intensity. The attitude and way the boys approach training has been spot on, we need to transfer that onto the field of play.

“We’ve picked a strong side, making some changes but largely keeping a lot of the same combinations. We are confident we’ve picked a team that can go out and win against Scotland.”

His Scotland counterpart John Dalziel has rung the changes too with only five players keeping their places in the starting line-up, although only captain Scott Cummings, hooker Jake Kerr and centre Tom Galbraith will wear the same jersey.

Blair Kinghorn moves from full-back to fly-half to replace Adam Hastings, while two other changes are enforced with Rory Hutchinson and Darcy Graham, the match-winning try-scorer against Australia, both ruled out of the tournament through injury.

“We’ve fielded another strong team to take on England, which is testament to the depth of talent we’ve got in the current squad,” insisted Dalziel. “We’ve always considered the tight turnaround between the first two games, especially taking into account the physicality of both Australia and England, and we’re fortunate in that we’ve been able to bring in five players who started regularly in the Six Nations.

“As with England, we have fresh players entering the fray who will bring a different energy, and they’ll be looking to set down their markers as individuals in this competition. We were happy to open with a victory, but we are focused on continuing to improve throughout the tournament and build on our early momentum.

The U20 Championship matches will, subject to geo-blocking in some territories, be streamed live on www.worldrugby.org. Stay in touch via @WorldRugby and tell us what you think by using the official #WorldRugby20s.

Courtesy of World Rugby