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The pools and fixtures for the World Rugby u20 Trophy are now set. Canada and Uruguay are among eight teams that will compete in Bucharest, Romania, between August 28 and September 9 in the second tier age-grade competition. The winner of the tournament will gain promotion to the top tier World Rugby u20 Championship in 2019.
Uruguay qualified as the South American tournament winners with Argentina taking part in the Championship. The Teritos hosted the competition in 2017. Canada defeated the USA in a two-leg qualifying series in June hosted by the Junior All-Americans in Texas.
Both Canada and Uruguay will compete in Pool B of the competition, grouped with Fiji and Portugal. The latter were finalists in last year’s competition, losing out to Japan in a match called early due to torrential rain. Pool A will consist of Hong Kong, Namibia, Samoa, and hosts Romania. Samoa were relegated from the Championship in 2017.
The two pools will play a round-robin format to determine the seeding for the final rankings games. Only the top seeds in each pool will have the opportunity to advance to the Championship in a single-elimination match on the final day.
Canada and Uruguay each competed in the u20 Championship in 2009. The competition format was changed in 2010 to include on 12 teams instead of 16, with the two sides each automatically relegated having finished in 14th and 16th spot respectively.
All matches will be streamed by World Rugby.
POOLS
| POOL A | POOL B |
| Hong Kong | Canada |
| Namibia | Fiji |
| Romania | Portugal |
| Samoa | Uruguay |
TUESDAY AUGUST 28
| PT | ET | URU | LOCAL | TEAM 1 | TEAM 2 |
| 00:00 | 03:00 | 04:00 | 10:00 | Samoa | Hong Kong |
| 02:00 | 05:00 | 06:00 | 12:00 | Uruguay | Fiji |
| 04:00 | 07:00 | 08:00 | 14:00 | Namibia | Romania |
| 06:00 | 09:00 | 10:00 | 16:00 | Portugal | Canada |
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 1
| 00:00 | 03:00 | 04:00 | 10:00 | Uruguay | Canada |
| 02:00 | 05:00 | 06:00 | 12:00 | Namibia | Hong Kong |
| 04:00 | 07:00 | 08:00 | 14:00 | Samoa | Romania |
| 06:00 | 09:00 | 10:00 | 16:00 | Portugal | Fiji |
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 5
| 00:00 | 03:00 | 04:00 | 10:00 | Romania | Hong Kong |
| 02:00 | 05:00 | 06:00 | 12:00 | Fiji | Canada |
| 04:00 | 07:00 | 08:00 | 14:00 | Portugal | Uruguay |
| 06:00 | 09:00 | 10:00 | 16:00 | Samoa | Namibia |
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 9
| 00:00 | 03:00 | 04:00 | 10:00 | 4th Pool A | 4th Pool B |
| 02:00 | 05:00 | 06:00 | 12:00 | 3rd Pool A | 3rd Pool B |
| 04:00 | 07:00 | 08:00 | 14:00 | 2nd Pool A | 2nd Pool B |
| 06:00 | 09:00 | 10:00 | 16:00 | 1st Pool A | 1st Pool B |
