JWC 2011: All change for round two in Italy

Story and Photo:  www.irb.com

Italian rugby fans in Treviso, Padova and Rovigo will have the chance to see more of the world’s best Under 20 players on Tuesday with all 12 teams having announced much-changed starting line-ups for the second day of the IRB Junior World Championship 2011.

Nicola Quaglio is certainly hoping the fans flock to the Stadio Mario Battaglini in Rovigo to see the tournament hosts face Argentina in Pool A, revealing the Azzurrini drew inspiration from their vocal supporters against New Zealand in Treviso last Friday.

“It has been inspirational for us to play in front of a packed venue in Treviso, it helped us a lot against the New Zealanders and I’m sure the atmosphere will be great in Rovigo on Tuesday evening as well,” explained the Rovigo-born prop, who started the opening 64-7 loss to New Zealand.

“We’ve made huge improvements since the Six Nations, but now we want to achieve some positive results, starting with the Argentina game. It will be a tough game though because the Pumitas struggled in their first pool match against Wales and they will be desperate to achieve their first victory.”
 
“We sacrificed ourselves yesterday in Treviso, tackling and tackling and tackling the Baby Blacks, but if we want to win games in the Junior World Championship we must run the ball more and we’re committed to do that and win our Latin derby in Rovigo.”

The two sides have never met before in the Junior World Championship and Argentina will know victory is vital if they are to have a real chance of bettering their sixth place finish on home soil a year ago, following the 34-8 loss to Wales on day one in Padova.

Taking it to the champions

Wales, buoyed by that win, will now hope to do what no-one else has managed in 16 matches at a Junior World Championship and beat New Zealand, who have been the dominant force in the tournament’s history with three titles.

Richard Webster has, like his New Zealand counterpart Mark Anscombe, made numerous changes for the first match in Rovigo on Tuesday, with fly half Matthew Morgan – the standout player against Argentina – dropping to the bench.

Steve Shingler moves up from full back to fill the No.10 jersey vacated by Morgan to create a new halfback pairing with Lewis Jones, with his place filled by Liam Williams, the two-try hero against Los Pumitas.

Lloyd Peers comes in to captain the side in place of Macauley Cook, and having been part of the team which lost 43-10 to New Zealand in last year’s pool stages, the second row is under no illusions as to the task that awaits the Welsh youngsters at the Stadio Mario Battaglini.

“It was a good performance by all the boys against Argentina, we got rid of all the cobwebs that we wanted to do but we know New Zealand are coming with a lot to offer,” explained Peers.

“You can't just stand off them, you have got to take your game to them and as soon as you go off your game and just try to control their game it doesn't work for you. It's a good start, but it's only a start. Now we have got to pick up, we have got the best team on the world in paper and with their trophies, so we have really got to take it to them the best we can.”

All change in Pool B

The four Pool B sides will again be based at the same venue, albeit this time the Stadio Plebiscito in Padova with Australia, runners up in 2010, tackling Fiji at 18:10 local time before France face the other Pacific Islands team Tonga at 20:10.

Australia’s starting XV is almost unrecognisable from that which began the 54-7 victory over Tonga with only Blake Enever keeping his spot in the pack and Tom Kingston and Kimami Situati in the backline, although the latter moves from centre to left wing.

The other wing will see a first appearance of the tournament for Damon Anderson, who was called up to replace James Ambrosini after he was ruled out with a broken hand before the first match day.

Michael Hooper takes over the captaincy with Colby Faingaa rested and his counterpart Solomoni Rasolea is the only Fijian to wear the same jersey as he did in the 24-12 loss to France. Four others are retained in the starting XV but will wear a different number on their backs.

France were the only winners on day one not to collect a try-scoring bonus point, something they will be looking to address when they take on Tonga as the race for the semi finals could all come down to such fine margins as a single point.

Hooker Romain Colliat assumes the captaincy for France’s first ever meeting with Tonga on the Junior World Championship stage, one of six players to come into the pack with only William Demotte and Pierre Julien retained.

The one team to have not made wholesale changes are Scotland for their Pool C match with the Auld Enemy at the Stadio Comunale di Monigo, coach Peter Wright bringing in four new faces to his starting XV from the 33-0 loss to South Africa.

Keeping the game alive

One of those changes is forced with Glenn Bryce coming in at full back to replace Stuart Hogg, who has been suspended for two matches after being cited for dangerous play in the loss to the Baby Boks.

Scotland, the only side not to score a point on day one, will be hoping for a better outcome than their last meeting with England, a 56-8 loss in the Six Nations back and Wright is taking confidence from the way Ireland performed against the Grand Slam winners on day one.

“Ireland forced them to make a lot of errors so we have to make sure we put them under just as much pressure. We can do that in defence but the challenge for us is getting our attack working,” admitted the former Scotland and Lions prop. “We’ll adopt a similar tactic in this match, we need to keep the game alive.

“We won’t be looking to take them on physically but we need to keep the ball for longer periods, into the sixth phase, to allow us to manipulate their defence and allow our quick runners to take advantage of any mismatches that are created.”

One player Scotland will certainly be wary of is centre Elliot Daly, who scored a hat-trick in that Six Nations win, while England fans will be keen to see Premiership winner Owen Farrell in his first start at fly half for the Under 20s.

“Scotland will really come at us,” admitted coach Rob Hunter, whose side needed a late Marland Yarde try to finally see of a spirited Irish outfit 33-25 in their opener at the same venue.

“We may have beaten them in the Six Nations but out here it really is a different ball game. They will have improved since then, just as I hope we have, but they have a very strong set-piece and they’ll be a real challenge.”

Ticking our own boxes

South Africa coach Dawie Theron, meanwhile, is hoping to see his side take another step forward when they face Ireland, although he knows it will not be an easy task against a side who will be desperate for a victory after seeing victory slip away against England.

“Scotland challenged us up front, and we were happy that we managed to keep them scoreless. Ireland though will pose a completely different threat. They are strong with the ball in hand, and were in the game against England right until the end,” explained Theron.

“But our focus this week is picking up from where we left off against Scotland. We want to simply our structure of play and ensure that some of our strengths are properly utilised against Ireland.

“It’s going to be tight – Ireland are always passionate, and they’ll have the crowd behind them as they did on Friday night against England – but for us, it’s going to be about ticking our own boxes, the first of which is four points on Tuesday night.”

Ireland coach Mike Ruddock has largely kept faith with his starting XV from day one with only five changes, including James McKinney getting the nod at fly half ahead of Paddy Jackson for the first ever meeting on the JWC stage between their proud nations.

“We have looked closely at South Africa and they present another massive challenge,” admitted Ruddock. “Typically they are a big and very physical side. Combine that with a four day turnaround and it is important that we introduce some freshness into our team. The players coming in are all experienced age grade internationals and they will be keen to perform on the big stage."