IRB Junior World Championship final between England and New Zealand – Rugby match preview
On Sunday, June 26, the International Rugby Board (IRB) Junior World Championship (JWC) final will be held between England U20 and New Zealand U20 hosted in Padova, Italy.
England has qualified for the finals after defeating France, in Treviso, Italy with a magnificent 33-18vwin. England has made it into the finals for the third time over a span of four years. On the other end, New Zealand (NZ) has qualified for the final encounter of JWC title as well, after defeating Australia with an impressive win of 37-7 in the second semi-final at the Stadio Comunale di Monigo on Wednesday, June 22.
Out of New Zealand and England, the former stands in a much more dominant position. New Zealand has swooped to the finals undefeated during the 19-match tournament. This will be New Zealand’s fourth consecutive battle for the JWC cup as the Baby Blacks receive England as the defending champions this Sunday.
England has been knocked down twice by New Zealand for the same title which further demonstrates NZ supremacy in the final encounter. This final is going to bring back memories from the JWC final of 2008 and 2009.
Rob Hunter, the Head Coach of England’s U20’s announced the 26-man squad for the JWC which started June 10. The squad members are a blend of A-League and Aviva Premiership players and the 26-man squad includes; Ryan Bower, Will Collier, Koree Britton, Matt Everard, Alex Gray, Rob Buchanan, Chris Cook, Sam Jones, Matt Kvesic, Charlie Matthews, Henry Thomas, Sam Twomey, Mike Haywood, Mako Vunipola, Joe Launchbury,Christian Wade,Andy Shorts, Owen Farrell, Elliot Daly, Jonathan, George Ford, Joseph, Ryan Mills, Ben Ransom,Dan Robson,Guy Armitage and Marland Yarde.
Hunter stated, “It wasn’t easy to narrow it down, we had a lot of competition, but a lot of the lads played well throughout the 6 Nations and deserve their seat on the plane to Italy.”
Mark Anscombe, the coach of under twenty New Zealand running for the fourth consecutive Junior World Championship title, announced the squad in April, 2011. Anscombe stated, “As in previous years, we had an initial group of 47 players vying for 26 spots. A feature of the team is that we have three players with experience in Super Rugby environments and a number of players who have played in the ITM Cup.” Also, he mentioned that their winning experience is going to “benefit” the squad and help them retain ownership of the JWC 2011 title.
New Zealand squad includes forwards pack of Dominic Bird, Carl Axtens, Heiden Bedwell-Curtis, Sam Cane, Michael Kainga , Steven Luatua, Greg Pleasants-Tate, Brodie Rettalick , Solomona Sakalia , Sefo Setefano, Brad Shields , Ben Tameifuna, Codie Taylor, Luke Whitelock.
Players taking up back positions in the squad include; Beauden Barrett, Gareth Anscombe, Nathan George, Waisake Naholo, Rhys Llewellyn, TJ Perenara, Glen Robertson, Charles Piutau , Francis Saili, Lima Sopoaga, Mitchell Scott and Brad Weber.
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