New Zealand Under 20 team named for World Rugby U20 Championship semi-final

Jun 12 • General News, Junior Rugby, World Rugby Junior Championship • 1757 Views • Comments Off on New Zealand Under 20 team named for World Rugby U20 Championship semi-final

New Zealand Under 20 Coach Craig Philpott has made three changes in the starting line up to play France in the World Rugby U20 Championship semi-final in France tomorrow morning.

The match will be played at a sold-out Stade Aime-Giral in Perpignan, kick off 9pm tomorrow (7am Wednesday NZT).

The team is;

1. Xavier Numia	Wellington
2. Flynn Thomas	Southland
3. Tevita Mafileo	Bay of Plenty
4. Laghlan McWhannell	Waikato
5. Will Tucker	Canterbury
6. Waimana Riedlinger-Kapa	Auckland
7. Tom Christie – captain	Canterbury
8. Devan Flanders	Hawke’s Bay
9. Xavier Roe	Waikato
10. Harry Plummer	Auckland
11. Caleb Clarke	Auckland
12. Scott Gregory	Northland
13. Billy Proctor	Wellington
14. Bailyn Sullivan	Waikato
15. Vilimoni Koroi	Otago

16. Ricky Jackson	Otago
17. Sione Asi	Manawatu
18. Kaliopasi Uluilakepa	Wellington
19. Will Tremain	Hawke’s Bay
20. Hoskins Sotutu	Auckland
21. Jay Renton	Southland
22. Kaleb Trask	Bay of Plenty
23. Jamie Spowart	Tasman

NOTE: Rob Cobb (ankle) has been ruled out of the remainder of the tournament and has been replaced by Waikato’s Ollie Norris. Ngane Punivai and Quinn Tupaea have also joined the team as injury replacements.

Coach Craig Philpott has named a relatively unchanged line up with Xavier Numia replacing the injured Rob Cobb, while Will Tucker and Xavier Roe are promoted from the bench.

“Will Tucker comes in at lock and gives us a bit of extra height, we’ve been impressed with his performances in the first two games and he came off the bench against Australia and added good impact.

“There was a real headache at nine, because we have two players who are both in really good form. But for this game against France, with the style of rugby we want to play, we think Xavier (Roe) is our best suited halfback,” said Philpott.

In their final pool play match against Australia, the team fronted a 10,000-strong crowd, which Philpott said was a learning curve. The same venue has sold out, with 14,000 expected for tomorrow’s semi-final.

“It is going to be a massive game in terms of crowd noise. The game against Australia was noisy enough, this is going to be something different. The biggest issue is communication and players being able to hear each other. It’s important we have tight connections and that everyone is on the same page.

Philpott said coming up against the hosts was an exciting prospect, France progressed to the semi-finals after a dominant 46-29 win over South Africa.

“They dismantled South Africa in the space of 35 minutes in their last pool game.

“This team play the way their senior team play; they have big dynamic ball carriers and want to attack. They play a style that we are probably a bit more used to so there is an upside in that for us.”

In the other semi-final, England face South Africa.