The opening round of the World Rugby u20 Trophy on Tuesday began to separate the contenders from the pretenders. Three matches ended in one-sided results while Canada fell to Tonga by a single point. Saturday will be do or die for any team hoping to push into the final, or even the third-place play-off.
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 HONG KONG
The Tongans held on to get the job done against Canada in their opening round match. Next they’ll face Hong Kong, who were overwhelmed by Portugal. The giant midfield combination of Malakai Uasi and Rodney Tongotea were in brutal form on Tuesday and will be a focal point once again on Saturday.
TONGA
1 Apitoni Toia, 2 Falamani Mafi, 3 Tevita Sole, 4 Solomone Fono, 5 Aisea Maksini, 6 Tupou Afungia, 7 Roy Lolesio, 8 Lopini Kioa, 9 Alan Tukuafu, 10 Filipe Samate, 11 Taniela Filimone, 12 Malakai Uasi (capt.), 13 Rodney Tongotea, 14 Lisiate Folau, 15 Hateni Tafolo
Replacements: 16 Mesake Toumohuni, 17 Mafi Fifita, 18 Lisivani Tuifua, 19 Otunuku Pauta, 20 Lote Fakatou, 21 Siaosi Nai, 22 Tu’atao Savou, 23 Hesitoni Fa, 24 Pita Halaifonua, 25 Mordecai Pulu
HONG KONG
1 Nick McGrory, 2 Callum Tam, 3 Mikkel Christensen, 4 James Rivers, 5 Jonathan Howells, 6 Sam Tsoi, 7 Joseph Knight, 8 Hugo Darke-Christopher, 9 Henry Poon, 10 Paul Altier (capt.), 11 Sam Down, 12 William Panday, 13 Kyle Kitney, 14 Oliver Duffy, 15 Thaddeus Summers
Replacements: 16 Cheuk-Wai Ng, 17 Man-Chun Tang, 18 Rory Cinnamond, 19 Wai-Shing Sung, 20 Ollie Overman, 21 Tomek Tsang, 22 Pat Laidler, 23 Lucas Lacamp, 24 Tiarnan Neville, 25 Julian Onderwater, 26 Kyle McCallum
Date: Saturday, July 13
Venue: Estadio Martins Pereira, São José dos Campos
Kickoff: 12:00 local (8:00 Pacific, 11:00 Eastern)
Referee: Nehuén Jauri Rivero (UAR)
Assistants: Cauã Ricardo (CBRu) & Matías Esteban (URU)
Broadcasts: Band Sports (Brazil), Facebook, YouTube
JAPAN vs URUGUAY
Two teams that won their opening matches in decisive fashion will go head-to-head in the second game of the day. This is effectively a Semi Final, with the winner heavy favorites to win the pool and earn a spot in the final. Japan have swapped three with the Teritos changing only one – Juan Manuel Aguiar replaces Santiago Nicolich at No8.
JAPAN
1 Yota Kamimori, 2 Mamoru Harada, 3 Sho Maeda, 4 Ohgi Yanamoto, 5 Ryusei Koike, 6 Halatoa Vailea, 7 Shota Fukui (capt.), 8 Takamasa Maruo, 9 Kaisei Tamura, 10 Ryuto Fukuyama, 11 Futo Yamaguchi, 12 Taihei Kusaka, 13 Tomoki Osada, 14 Yuichirou Wada, 15 Ryosuke Kawase
Replacements: 16 Daiki Nishiyama, 17 Gun Tajima, 18 Syohei Tsujimura, 19 Terutaka Oka, 20 Kouki Matsumoto, 21 Akito Okui, 22 Hayato Fukunishi, 23 Ryota Tomoike, 24 Takumi Aoki, 25 Moeki Fukushi, 26 Keita Inayoshi
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 Juan Manuel Aguiar, 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 Santiago Nicolich, 21 Carlos Deus, 22 Federico Slinger, 23 Santiago del Cerro, 24 Ignacio Rodríguez, 25 Tomás Pollio, 26 Manuel Barreiro
Date: Saturday, July 13
Venue: Estadio Martins Pereira, São José dos Campos
Kickoff: 14:00 local (10:00 Pacific, 13:00 Eastern)
Referee: Federico Vedovelli (FIR)
Assistants: Damián Schneider (UAR) & Cauã Ricardo (CBRu)
Broadcasts: Band Sports (Brazil), Facebook, YouTube
PORTUGAL vs CANADA
It’s a must-win situation for Canada after their narrow defeat to Tonga. If they beat Portugal there is still a chance to make the final. A loss and they may not even make the third-place match. Stefan Zuliani comes in at loosehead prop with Thomas Isherwood replacing the injured Avery Oitomen at fullback. Portugal have made four changes to the team that beat Hong Kong with relative ease.
PORTUGAL
1 David Costa, 2 Rodrigo Bento, 3 Duarte Conde, 4 Helano Alberto, 5 Martim Belo, 6 Manuel Maia, 7 Manuel Pinto, 8 José Roque (capt.), 9 Joaquim Félix, 10 Jerónimo Portela, 11 Francisco Salgado, 12 José Do Carmo, 13 Rodrigo Marta, 14 Raffaele Storti, 15 Simão Bento
Replacements: 16 Márcio Pinheiro, 17 António Cunha, 18 Frederico Simões, 19 André Gouveia, 20 José Madeira, 21 Sebastião Silva, 22 Pedro Lucas, 23 Tomás Lamboglia, 24 João Vieira, 25 José Santos, 26 Francisco Rosa
CANADA
1 Stefan Zuliani, 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 Thomas Isherwood
Replacements: 16 David Carson, 17 Josh Tweed, 18 Guerschom Mukendi, 19 Reid Davis, 20 Siaki Vikilani, 21 Mason Flesch, 22 Jared Augustin, 23 Jack Carson, 24 Lachlan Kratz, 25 Antoine de la Fontaine
Date: Saturday, July 13
Venue: Estadio Martins Pereira, São José dos Campos
Kickoff: 17:00 local (13:00 Pacific, 16:00 Eastern)
Referee: Luke Rogan (USAR)
Assistants: Damián Schneider (UAR) & Frank Méndez (FERUCHI)
Broadcasts: Band Sports (Brazil), Facebook, YouTube
KENYA vs BRAZIL
Both teams are looking to get their first win after heavy defeats on Day One. Brazil have made only one change to the starting lineup – Henrique Da Silva replaces injured Guilherme Dias on the flank. Kenya have made a handful of changes including moving Dominic Coulson to No10 with flanker James McGreevy swapped to the midfield.
KENYA
1 Andrew Siminyu, 2 Bonface Ochieng (capt.), 3 Ian Masheti, 4 Emanuel Silungi, 5 Hibrahim Ayoo, 6 Samuel Were, 7 Brian Amaitsa, 8 George Kyriazi, 9 Samuel Asati, 10 Dominic Coulson, 11 Timothy Okwemba, 12 John Okoth, 13 James McGreevy, 14 Geoffrey Okwach, 15 Andrew Matoka
Replacements: 16 Wilfred Waswa, 17 Ian Njenga, 18 Collins Obure, 19 Rotuk Rahedi, 20 Frank Aduda, 21 Sheldon Kahi, 22 Barry Robinson, 23 Owain Ashley, 24 Michele Brighetti
BRAZIL
1 Naassom Porto, 2 Leonardo Da Silva, 3 Henrique Ribeiro, 4 Samoel Bertan, 5 Filippo Bugno, 6 Henrique Da Silva, 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 Gabriel Oliviera, 19 Weslley Barbosa, 20 Matheus de Oliviera, 21 Alisson Kalkmann, 22 Guylherme Rangel, 23 Carlos Moura, 24 João Furst, 25 Gerónimo Olivares
Date: Saturday, July 13
Venue: Estadio Martins Pereira, São José dos Campos
Kickoff: 19:00 local (15:00 Pacific, 18:00 Eastern)
Referee: Gonzalo Ventoso (UAR)
Assistants: Frank Méndez (FERUCHI) & Matías Esteban (URU)
Broadcasts: Band Sports (Brazil), Facebook, YouTube