New Zealand Under 20 side named to face Ireland at World Championships

Jun 8 • General News, International • 1008 Views • Comments Off on New Zealand Under 20 side named to face Ireland at World Championships

New Zealand Under 20 Head Coach Craig Philpott has named his side to face Ireland in their final pool match at the World Rugby Under 20 World Championships in Georgia, on Thursday 11.30pm NZT.

New Zealand opened their campaign with a 42-20 win over Scotland on Wednesday and on Sunday they defeated Italy 68-26 in their second pool game.

The team is:

1	Ezekiel Lindenmuth	Auckland
2	Asafo Aumua	Wellington
3	Alex Fidow	Wellington
4	Isaia Walker-Leawere	Wellington
5	Sam Caird	Waikato
6	Sam Slade	Auckland
7	Tom Christie	Canterbury
8	Luke Jacobson (C)	Waikato
9	Ereatara Enari (VC)	Canterbury
10	Tiaan Falcon	Hawke’s Bay
11	Caleb Clarke	Auckland
12	Orbyn Leger	Counties Manukau
13	Braydon Ennor	Canterbury
14	Tima Faingaanuku	Tasman
15	Will Jordan	Tasman

16	John (JP) Sauni	Auckland
17	Harrison-Allan	Canterbury
18	Pouri Rakete-Stones	Hawke’s Bay
19	Adrian Choat	Auckland
20	Marino Mikaele-Tuu	Hawke’s Bay
21	Kemara Hauiti-Parapara	Wellington
22	Thomas Umaga-Jensen	Wellington
23	Josh McKay	Canterbury

New Zealand Under 20 Head Coach Craig Philpott said he and his coaching team have picked a strong side that they believe will feature in the back end of the competition.

“We expect Ireland to play with passion and like they have nothing to lose, hence the team we have named to put on the park.

“We have picked Tima Faingaanuku and Caleb Clarke on the wings. They both have size and strength and we hope we will be able to bend them out wide.

“Our clear goal from this match is to bag five points, so we can get to 15 for the round robin and hopefully qualify as the top seed for the semifinals.”