World Rugby U20 Championship 2017

The schedule has been announced.  http://www.worldrugby.org/tournament/1594/fixtures


POOL A England, Wales, Australia, Samoa
POOL B Ireland, NZ, Scotland, Italy
POOL C Argentina, South Africa, France, Georgia


31/05
A Eng v Sam
B NZ v Scot
B Ire v Italy
C SA v Fra
C Arg v Geo
A Aus v Wal

04/06
C Arg v Fra
B Ire v Scot
B NZ v Italy
A Aus v Sam
C SA v Geo
A Eng v Wal

08/06
A Wal v Sam
B Sco v Italy
C Arg v SA
B Ire v NZ
C Fra v Geo
A Eng v Aus

Who's hosting it?

By the look of it, Georgia.

Maine man wrote:Who's hosting it?

Georgia.


I remember when Ireland wolfhounds were playing in an end of season tournament there a few years back, in Tbilisi. Bears, hyenas, wolves, a hippopotamus and more animals were roaming the streets having escaped from the local zoo due to a flood.

How do they decide the seeding and fixtures? For the third year in a row it seems England have started with an easy game.

The seeding is based on the results of the previous tournament.
Pot 1: Seeds 1 England,6 Oz,7 Wales & 12 Samoa (promoted)
Pot 2: Seeds 2 Ireland,5 N.Z. 8 Scotland & 11 Italy
Pot 3: Seeds 3 Argentina,4 S.A. 9 France & 10 Georgia

I don't know how the fixtures are decided but the best draw is to have your easy game in the middle so you can rest your best players and the team you play last will hopefully have 2 tough games in 4 days.

Winning 3 of the last 4 would probably mean England are the top seeds in their group

mikey_dragon wrote:How do they decide the seeding and fixtures? For the third year in a row it seems England have started with an easy game.

For the England U20's they'll all be easy games

They should be top seeds anyway. Interesting parallel with a certain recent RWC with Aus and Wales in the same group

asoreleftshoulder wrote:The seeding is based on the results of the previous tournament.
Pot 1: Seeds 1 England,6 Oz,7 Wales & 12 Samoa (promoted)
Pot 2: Seeds 2 Ireland,5 N.Z. 8 Scotland & 11 Italy
Pot 3: Seeds 3 Argentina,4 S.A. 9 France & 10 Georgia

I don't know how the fixtures are decided but the best draw is to have your easy game in the middle so you can rest your best players and the team you play last will hopefully have 2 tough games in 4 days.

Agreed on BIB, thats why England will be delighted with this draw

Seems strange that the no 1 seed gets the worst pool.

Almost every year bar England have been drawn with a tri nation.

beshocked wrote:Seems strange that the no 1 seed gets the worst pool.

Almost every year bar England have been drawn with a tri nation.

If you were going by first team stats then yes - but this is based on U20 performance. Pot 3 looks to be the worst pool.

beshocked wrote:Seems strange that the no 1 seed gets the worst pool.

Almost every year bar England have been drawn with a tri nation.

It's pure luck really,Argentina and Ireland finishing top 4 last year upset the traditional order but the teams you face could be far better or worse than their seeding suggests.

lostinwales wrote:

beshocked wrote:Seems strange that the no 1 seed gets the worst pool.

Almost every year bar England have been drawn with a tri nation.

If you were going by first team stats then yes - but this is based on U20  performance. Pot 3 looks to be the worst pool.

Surely the U20 batch changes every year.

Wales have had some very dangerous teams so have the Aussies. Plus those two teams I am sure will want to up their performance vs England.

Certain sides play better against certain teams.

If you go by league positions in previous years, England probably have the toughest pool.

Argentina aren't traditionally one of the best.

beshocked wrote:

lostinwales wrote:

beshocked wrote:Seems strange that the no 1 seed gets the worst pool.

Almost every year bar England have been drawn with a tri nation.

If you were going by first team stats then yes - but this is based on U20  performance. Pot 3 looks to be the worst pool.

Surely the U20 batch changes every year.

Wales have had some very dangerous teams so have the Aussies. Plus those two teams I am sure will want to up their performance vs England.

Certain sides play better against certain teams.

Still kidding yourself with this bolox I see - the rugby world doesn't start and end at England. It's about time you learned that.

I'm not sure if Wales will have a good team until the 6N as we've lost quite a few. I'm hoping the likes of Keelan Giles, Seb Davies and Leon Brown are available as they've been our good young players in the set-up.

We haven't stepped up in the past two competitions whilst we had a good team in each so U20s rugby must be getting a lot better.

BamBam wrote:Winning 3 of the last 4 would probably mean England are the top seeds in their group

That bit was obvious, but I'm still wondering why they keep giving England tether easy games up first like they have done in the previous two comp's. The momentum that England were able to build in the last tournament helped them out quite a bit.

mikey_dragon wrote:

beshocked wrote:

lostinwales wrote:

beshocked wrote:Seems strange that the no 1 seed gets the worst pool.

Almost every year bar England have been drawn with a tri nation.

If you were going by first team stats then yes - but this is based on U20  performance. Pot 3 looks to be the worst pool.

Surely the U20 batch changes every year.

Wales have had some very dangerous teams so have the Aussies. Plus those two teams I am sure will want to up their performance vs England.

Certain sides play better against certain teams.

Still kidding yourself with this bolox I see - the rugby world doesn't start and end at England. It's about time you learned that.

I'm not sure if Wales will have a good team until the 6N as we've lost quite a few. I'm hoping the likes of Keelan Giles, Seb Davies and Leon Brown are available as they've been our good young players in the set-up.

We haven't stepped up in the past two competitions whilst we had a good team in each so U20s rugby must be getting a lot better.

England have won the last 3 out of 4 JWCs.... Pretty important. Slowly but surely our strength at U20s is making an impact at full international level.

Put it this way I would love to swap with NZ who despite being lowly seeded (for them) have the nicest group.

Don't try and sidestep, you say it about all England teams every year no matter where they are. Most pro teams just concentrate on one game at a time - I'm fairly certain they aren't all just thinking of England.

It is a fact that at the JWC England have the best record over the last 4 years by some distance. Last year NZ underperformed and Ireland and Argentina arguably overperformed.

From what I saw then yes England were helped by a beneficial draw but that is what you earn by doing well in previous tournaments. I don't think England played especially well overall either, just better than each of their opponents.

It is worthwhile mentioning that England were poor at the last U20 6N too - but a change of regime plus access to many players held back by their clubs during the 6N made a lot of difference. 6N performance might not be a good indicator of how teams will do in the summer.

beshocked wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

beshocked wrote:

lostinwales wrote:

beshocked wrote:Seems strange that the no 1 seed gets the worst pool.

Almost every year bar England have been drawn with a tri nation.

If you were going by first team stats then yes - but this is based on U20  performance. Pot 3 looks to be the worst pool.

Surely the U20 batch changes every year.

Wales have had some very dangerous teams so have the Aussies. Plus those two teams I am sure will want to up their performance vs England.

Certain sides play better against certain teams.

Still kidding yourself with this bolox I see - the rugby world doesn't start and end at England. It's about time you learned that.

I'm not sure if Wales will have a good team until the 6N as we've lost quite a few. I'm hoping the likes of Keelan Giles, Seb Davies and Leon Brown are available as they've been our good young players in the set-up.

We haven't stepped up in the past two competitions whilst we had a good team in each so U20s rugby must be getting a lot better.

England have won the last 3 out of 4 JWCs.... Pretty important. Slowly but surely our strength at U20s is making an impact at full international level.

Put it this way I would love to swap with NZ who despite being lowly seeded (for them) have the nicest group.

How about swapping with Ireland?

England should have another good squad this year
from last season:
Hookers:N/A
Loosehead: Boyce, Keast
Tighthead: Stuart, Walker,
Locks: South, Kitchener,
Flanker: Evans, Willis
Number 8: Chick, Mercer
Scrum Half: Randall
Fly Half: Brophy-Clews, Malins
Centres: Marchant, Thorley, Williams
Winger: Aspland-Robinson
Full Back: Atkins, Gallagher,

then you have the players like Ludlam, Odogwu in the AP and players like Yawayawa getting game time in the championship.

lostinwales wrote:It is a fact that at the JWC England have the best record over the last 4 years by some distance. Last year NZ underperformed and Ireland and Argentina arguably overperformed.

From what I saw then yes England were helped by a beneficial draw but that is what you earn by doing well in previous tournaments. I don't think England played especially well overall either, just better than each of their opponents.

It is worthwhile mentioning that England were poor at the last U20 6N too - but a change of regime plus access to many players held back by their clubs during the 6N made a lot of difference. 6N performance might not be a good indicator of how teams will do in the summer.

If you're replying to me then I don't think I've said otherwise? I've just stated how I'm surpsired England keep getting a favourable fixture list and also took issue with Beshocked still believing the rugby world is all about England...

Ireland stepped up last year - they beat both Wales and then NZ after most expected them to lose. It's time to step up again .

mikey dragon England have been the team to beat at U20 level in the last 3/4 years, just as NZ are the team to beat at full international level.

Well generally it's true. Dan Biggar won Welsh sports personality of the year, last year because of victory over England. Gatland has kept his job with Wales because of that win which he will dine off for some time. Howley is dining off the 2013 victory over England.

Yeah but you're still missing the point - I suggest you go back to my previous comments and try again. That said, England have been one of the best teams at U20 level for a lot longer than the last 4 years.

Ah here we go again I was waiting for this . It's not particularly relevant to U20s rugby but saying that, where is it stated that Biggar got sports personality of the year because Wales beat England - does it say that on the trophy? No doubt you've held it then.

Gatland is our coach through being the best available. He's been a very good coach for us so it's no surprise they wanted to extend his contract. Some agree, some disagree, whilst others like you seem to get their information from planet Mars.

PS - Howley obviously isn't rated. I cant fathom why he's still in the set up. If he wasn't then he certainly wouldn't be our care taker.

Umaga could be in the mix too Welly, though cannot see him getting any first team action down the M69.

LondonTiger wrote:Umaga could be in the mix too Welly, though cannot see him getting any first team action down the M69.

He isn't even starting in the A league aTm so might be another year for him.

Also playing at hinkley.

Aye, probably not ready, but he did very well for England U18s and U19s last season, and they do like having people in a year early to gain experience.

beshocked wrote:Seems strange that the no 1 seed gets the worst pool.

Almost every year bar England have been drawn with a tri nation.

How is it? Samoa are bottom seeds. Australia are not great and you have beaten Wales often enough.

Maybe some of the guys in this will make the NZ U20s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MqPHME3GXo