World Rugby u20 Trophy – Day One Preview

It’s make or break from the opening day of the 2019 World Rugby u20 Trophy. A loss of any kind will all but end hopes of reaching the final before the tournament has hardly begun. Four matches on each day leaves plenty of dramatic rugby to be enjoyed by viewers across the globe.

All matches are regular 80 minute games but the entire 26-man roster is permitted to be named for each match. Of those any 8 can be used as substitutes.  All matches will be streamed live on World Rugby’s media channels (Facebook / YouTube), with Band Sports streaming over YouTube in Brazil.

 

TONGA vs CANADA

It’s fireworks from the first whistle as the two most physical teams in the tournament go head-to-head. Tonga will be looking to prove that they belong after three years in the wilderness. A strong win here would be a major statement of intent for the Canadians.

TONGA
1 Tevita Sole, 2 Falamani Mafi, 3 Lisivani Tuifua, 4 Tupou Afungia, 5 Aisea Maksini, 6 Asaeli Fanua, 7 Pita Halaifonua (capt.), 8 Lopini Kioa, 9 Siaosi Nai, 10 Filipe Samate, 11 Taniela Filimone, 12 Malakai Uasi, 13 Rodney Tongotea, 14 Lisiate Folau, 15 Hateni Tafolo

Replacements: 16 Mesake Toumohuni, 17 Mafi Fifita, 18 Apitoni Toia, 19 Otunuku Pauta, 20 Roy Lolesio, 21 Alan Tukuafu, 22 Tu’atao Savou, 23 Hesitoni Fa, 24 Solomone Fono, 25 Mordecai Pulu, 26 Lote Fakatou

CANADA
1 Josh Tweed, 2 Mike McCarthy, 3 Tyler Rowland, 4 Frank Carson, 5 Tyler Duguid, 6 Quentin James, 7 Will Matthews, 8 Nick Carson, 9 Will Percillier (capt.), 10 Brock Webster, 11 Jarvis Dashkewytch, 12 Quinn Ngawati, 13 Gabriel Casey, 14 David Richard, 15 Avery Oitomen

Replacements: 16 Jared Augustin, 17 Stefan Zuliani, 18 Guerschom Mukendi, 19 Reid Davis, 20 Thomas Isherwood, 21 Siaki Vikilani, 22 David Carson, 23 Lachlan Kratz, 24 Jack Carson, 25 Mason Flesch, 26 Antoine de la Fontaine

Date: Tuesday, July 9
Venue: Estadio Martins Pereira, São José dos Campos
Kickoff: 12:00 local (8:00 Pacific, 11:00 Eastern)
Referee: Damián Schneider (UAR)
Broadcasts: Band Sports (Brazil), Facebook, YouTube

 

JAPAN vs BRAZIL

The pre-tournament favorites go up against the lowest-ranked team in the tournament. Anything but a dominant win for Japan would be a disappointment. Brazil, on the other hand, having nothing to lose and the home crowd behind them. Surviving until halftime will be vital.

JAPAN
1 Yota Kamimori, 2 Mamoru Harada, 3 Sho Maeda, 4 Shu Yamamoto, 5 Ryusei Koike, 6 Halatoa Vailea, 7 Shota Fukui (capt.), 8 Takamasa Maruo, 9 Kaisei Tamura, 10 Ryuto Fukuyama, 11 Futo Yamaguchi, 12 Yuichirou Wada, 13 Tomoki Osada, 14 Moeki Fukushi, 15 Ryosuke Kawase

Replacements: 16 Daiki Nishiyama, 17 Gun Tajima, 18 Syohei Tsujimura, 19 Ohgi Yanamoto, 20 Kouki Matsumoto, 21 Akito Okui, 22 Hayato Fukunishi, 23 Ryota Tomoike, 24 Takumi Aoki

BRAZIL
1 Naassom Porto, 2 Leonardo Da Silva, 3 Henrique Ribeiro, 4 Samoel Bertan, 5 Filippo Bugno, 6 Guilherme Dias, 7 Rafael Dos Santos, 8 Adrio de Melo (capt.), 9 Felipe Cunha, 10 Lucas Spago, 11 Murillo Bonesso, 12 Joel Santos, 13 Gabriel Quirino, 14 Vicent Quirino, 15 Carlos Proença

Replacements: 16 Felipe Quevedo, 17 Marcos de Melo, 18 Henrique Da Silva, 19 Gabriel Oliviera, 20 Weslley Barbosa, 21 Matheus de Oliviera, 22 Alisson Kalkmann, 23 Guylherme Rangel, 24 Carlos Moura, 25 João Furst, 26 Gerónimo Olivares

Date: Tuesday, July 9
Venue: Estadio Martins Pereira, São José dos Campos
Kickoff: 14:00 local (10:00 Pacific, 13:00 Eastern)
Referee: Luke Rogan (USAR)
Broadcasts: Band Sports (Brazil), Facebook, YouTube

 

KENYA vs URUGUAY

Most will consider the South Americans as favorites here, but Kenya are unpredictable and feature both a threatening lineout figure in Emanuel Silungi and a skilled goal kicker in Dominic Coulson. The Teritos will attack in the scrum but also possess a skilled backline that is dangerous on front foot ball.

KENYA
1 Andrew Siminyu, 2 Bonface Ochieng (capt.), 3 Rotuk Rahedi, 4 Emanuel Silungi, 5 Frank Aduda, 6 James McGreevy, 7 Brian Amaitsa, 8 Sheldon Kahi, 9 Samuel Asati, 10 Michele Brighetti, 11 Andrew Matoka, 12 John Okoth, 13 Dominic Coulson, 14 Geoffrey Okwach, 15 Jeff Mutuku

Replacements: 16 Wilfred Waswa, 17 Ian Njenga, 18 Ian Masheti, 19 Collins Obure, 20 Hibrahim Ayoo, 21 Samuel Were, 22 George Kyriazi, 23 Barry Robinson, 24 Owain Ashley, 25 Timothy Okwemba, 26 Douglas Kahuri

URUGUAY
1 Ezequiel Ramos, 2 Juan Martín Rippe, 3 Faustino Etchegorry, 4 Juanjuan Garese (capt.), 5 Felipe Aliaga, 6 Maxime Sonneveld, 7 Felipe Lombardo, 8 Santiago Nicolich, 9 Alfonso Cat, 10 Matías D’Avanzo, 11 Baltazar Amaya, 12 Alfonso Costa, 13 Felipe Arcos Pérez, 14 Juan Pablo Costabile, 15 José Iruleguy

Replacements: 16 Carlos Gruss, 17 Santiago Bonasso, 18 Ignacio Péculo, 19 Reinaldo Piussi, 20 Juan Manuel Aguiar, 21 Carlos Deus, 22 Federico Slinger, 23 Santiago del Cerro, 24 Ignacio Rodríguez, 25 Tomás Pollio

Date: Tuesday, July 9
Venue: Estadio Martins Pereira, São José dos Campos
Kickoff: 17:00 local (13:00 Pacific, 16:00 Eastern)
Referee: Federico Vedovelli (FIR)
Broadcasts: Band Sports (Brazil), Facebook, YouTube

 

PORTUGAL vs HONG KONG

The Portuguese must prove their quality here. Hong Kong have some dangerous players – Paul Altier a standout – but concede size and strength in the pack. They will be hard-pressed to stay in the match for 80 minutes. Portugal are taking no chances with their lineup naming their full strength side including star attacker Rodrigo Marta.

PORTUGAL
1 David Costa, 2 Frederico Simões, 3 António Cunha, 4 Sebastião Silva, 5 Martim Belo, 6 Manuel Pinto, 7 Helano Alberto, 8 José Roque (capt.), 9 Pedro Lucas, 10 Jerónimo Portela, 11 Francisco Salgado, 12 José Do Carmo, 13 Rodrigo Marta, 14 Raffaele Storti, 15 Simão Bento

Replacements: 16 Márcio Pinheiro, 17 Duarte Conde, 18 Rodrigo Bento, 19 André Gouveia, 20 José Madeira, 21 Manuel Maia, 22 Joaquim Félix, 23 Tomás Lamboglia, 24 João Vieira, 25 José Santos, 26 Francisco Rosa

HONG KONG
1 Nick McGrory, 2 Callum Tam, 3 Rory Cinnamond, 4 James Rivers, 5 Sam Tsoi, 6 Ollie Overman, 7 Joseph Knight, 8 Hugo Darke-Christopher, 9 Henry Poon, 10 Paul Altier (capt.), 11 Tomek Tsang, 12 William Panday, 13 Kyle Kitney, 14 Tiarnan Neville, 15 Lucas Lacamp

Replacements: 16 Cheuk-Wai Ng, 17 Man-Chun Tang, 18 Mikkel Christensen, 19 Wai-Shing Sung, 20 Jonathan Howells, 21 Sam Down, 22 Pat Laidler, 23 Thaddeus Summers, 24 Oliver Duffy, 25 Julian Onderwater, 26 Kyle McCallum

Date: Tuesday, July 9
Venue: Estadio Martins Pereira, São José dos Campos
Kickoff: 19:00 local (15:00 Pacific, 18:00 Eastern)
Referee: Gonzalo Ventoso (UAR)
Broadcasts: Band Sports (Brazil), Facebook, YouTube