The first round of this year’s IRB Junior World Championship gets underway down in Cape Town this Saturday. Darry Worthington previews all of the action.
There are some cracking fixtures in store with the highlights seeing England square off with Argentina and Australia going head-to-head with Georgia.
Darry Worthington previews all the Round 1 action and gives his verdict on each fixture, below.
Saturday 29 June
France N/A | Draw 33/1 | Spain 25/1 (14:00)
Reigning champions France kick off proceedings against World Rugby U20 Trophy winners Spain. Les Bleus’ Juniors have won the last three Junior Championships while this is Spain’s first time featuring in the top tier of junior rugby.
The French have a stacked squad with a number of their players having already played in the Top 14. They also have a number of players who featured in last year’s Junior Championship title-winning team. And while the French Juniors didn’t have the best of campaigns in the Junior Six Nations – they finished third with only two wins from their five games – they do tend to up their game when it comes to the Junior Championship.
Spain are a bit of an enigma having never featured at this level before. They did have a good 2023 season winning the U20 Trophy beating the likes of Samoa and Uruguay.
Verdict: France (-)
The French should be a real threat once again this year and I’m backing them to open their campaign by making a big statement with a mammoth win over the Spanish. Wait for the handicap to come out and have a go at anything around 50 points.
England 1/8 | Draw 33/1 | Argentina 5/1 (14:00)
Our next fixture should be more hotly contested with reigning Junior Six Nations champions England taking on a talented Argentina outfit. Both sides will be looking for better showings than they produced at this tournament last year with England finishing fourth while Argentina ended up ninth.
As noted above, England enjoyed a very good Junior Six Nations campaign winning four and drawing one of their fixtures on the way to finishing as champions. They haven’t been as flash in the build-up to this year’s Junior Championship, however, as they shared the spoils in a two-match series against Georgia by first beating the Eastern Europeans 31-7 and then going down to them 17-45 a few days later.
Los Pumas had a bit more preparation time for this year’s Junior Championship as they participated in the inaugural Under 20 Rugby Championship. While they did get some valuable playing time together, they were unable to register too many positive results as they went down 30-28 to South Africa, 43-20 against New Zealand but beat a somewhat understrength Australia 6-25.
Verdict: Argentina (+)
I expect this one to be a very close-run thing. As such, I’m backing Los Pumas juniors on the plus handicap.
Australia 1/3 | Draw 22/1 | Georgia 24/10 (16:30)
Our next fixture is an intriguing one with an ever-improving Georgian outfit taking on an unpredictable Australian side. Both sides will have a bit of added motivation here with the Georgians still probably aggrieved that they did not make the semi-final stage of last year’s tournament while Australia will be looking to bounce back from a poor showing in the inaugural Under 20 Rugby Championship, in which they finished at the foot of the table.
As noted above, Australia didn’t have the best Rugby Championship with their sole win coming over the Baby Boks, who they beat 24-19. Their two defeats came at the hands of the Kiwis who they lost to 25-36 and Argentina who beat them 6-25.
Georgia have just completed a two-match series against England, and for the second year running they shared the spoils with the English losing the first fixture by 24 points and winning the second fixture by 28 points.
Verdict: Georgia (+)
I actually fancy Georgia to sneak a win here but I’ll play it safe and back the Eastern Europeans on the plus handicap.
Ireland | Draw | Italy (16:30)
Next up we have an all-European affair with Junior Six Nations runners-up Ireland taking on a vastly improved Italian side. The Irish finished last year’s edition of the Junior Championship as runners-up and will be looking to go one better this time while the Italians finished 11th.
Ireland were desperately unlucky not to claim the Junior Six Nations crown as they missed out on it by a solitary bonus point. They went through the tournament undefeated with the only blemish on their record being a 32-32 draw with arch-foes England.
Italy may have only managed to register two wins in the Junior Six Nations but did bag a fourth-place finish courtesy of victories over Scotland (47-14) and France (20-23). They also gave the Irish a real run for the money when the sides met in the ‘comp going down 23-22 in Ireland.
Verdict: Ireland (-)
I’m expecting Ireland to be far more dominant than they were when the two sides clashed in the Junior Six Nations,
South Africa 1/33 | Draw 40/1 | Fiji 10/1 (19:00)
Our next fixture sees hosts South Africa taking on one of the low seeds in the competition Fiji. While the Baby Boks are heavy favourites to win this one, they will need to be wary of this Fijian outfit who gave some of the big guns a real scare last year.
The South Africans had a decent enough time of it in last year’s Junior Championship as they finished third. They were actually pretty lucky to get out of the pool phase, however, as they were level on points with Georgia. The Baby ‘Boks have had more prep time this year due to the first-ever Junior Rugby Championship. They gave a decent account of themselves in the ‘comp finishing second courtesy of a 13-13 draw with New Zealand and a 30-28 win over Argentina. Their hopes of claiming the inaugural title were dashed by Australia, however, as they went down 24-19 to the Junior Wallabies.
As touched on in the first paragraph of this segment, Fiji were a threat at last year’s Junior Championship at which they finished tenth. They gave Australia a big scare in last year’s pool phase, leading for most of the fixture before a late blitz from the Wallabies saw them win 46-37. They then hammered Italy in the play-offs 26-41.
Verdict: South Africa (-)
Fiji have lost a number of the big guns from last year’s comp and I can see them struggling against this South African outfit.
Wales 12/1 | Draw 40/1 | New Zealand 1/50 (19:00)
Our final game of Round 1 is a north versus south affair with Wales taking on the Kiwis. The two sides actually played out an absolute cracker when they met at last year’s tournament with New Zealand edging the fixture 26-27.
New Zealand will still be smarting from their poor showing at last year’s Junior Championship where they finished seventh. It was one of their worst junior campaigns ever and they will be out to atone for it. They will also know that they may need a big win here to advance to the next round as they are pooled with reigning champions France, and may have to claim the best second-placed team berth to advance to the semi-finals.
The Kiwis have had a good year so far as they took the first-ever Junior Rugby Championship courtesy of wins over Australia (25-36), Argentina (43-20) and a 13-13 draw with South Africa,
Wales didn’t have as good a time in the Junior Six Nations as they finished fifth in the tournament claiming wins over Italy (27-15) and Scotland (37-29).
Verdict: New Zealand (-)
I’m expecting big things from this Kiwi side. They performed really well in the Junior Rugby Championship and look to have some serious talent on their hands.
