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Baby Blacks change five for massive U20s clash with champions France

286 days ago

New Zealand players during their match day one anthem last Saturday in Athlone (Photo by Thinus Maritz/World Rugby)

New Zealand boss Jono Gibbes has named a Baby Blacks side to face France showing five changes from match day one at the World Rugby U20 Championship in South Africa. The Kiwis got the show on the road with a 41-34 Pool A win over Wales at Athlone last Saturday and they have now changed three forwards and two backs for their eagerly anticipated clash with the French.

It was in match day two at last year’s tournament when France stole a march, comprehensively defeating New Zealand 35-14 in Paarl. They went on to win the title, their third in succession at U20s, while the Baby Blacks, with Clark Laidlaw at the helm of the class of 2023, finished down the rankings in seventh.

Sifting through the match day two changes to the forwards for the French rematch in Stellenbosch, 2024 boss Gibbes has promoted Logan Watson-Wallace as the starting tighthead with Joshua Smith dropping to the bench.

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In the back row, Andrew Smith and Mosese Bason have been chosen to respectively start at blindside and No8 with Tai Cribb missing out and Matt Lowe switching to the bench.

Out the back, the two starting line-up alterations are in the back three with Isaac Hutchinson at full-back in place of the benched Sam Coles while Xavier Tito-Harris, a replacement the last day versus the Welsh, takes over on the right wing from Frank Vaenuku.

Fixture

World Rugby U20 Championship

France U20

26 - 27

Full-time

New Zealand U20

All Stats and Data

New Zealand (vs France, Thursday): 1. Will Martin, 2. Vernon Bason (capt), 3. Logan Watson-Wallace, 4. Tom Allen, 5. Liam Jack, 6. Andrew Smith, 7. Jonathan Lee, 8. Mosese Bason; 9. Dylan Pledger, 10. Rico Simpson; 11. Stanley Solomon, 12. Xavi Taele, 13. Aki Tuivailala, 14. Xavier Tito-Harris; 15. Isaac Hutchinson. Reps: 16. Manumaua Letiu, 17. Sika Uamaki, 18. Joshua Smith, 19. Cameron Christie, 20. Matt Lowe, 21. Ben O’Donovan, 22. Sam Coles, 23. King Maxwell.

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Comments

2 Comments

Andrew 286 days ago

Whats happened to Malachi Wrampling? He looked unstoppable in the Aussie tournament

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Ed the Duck 11 minutes ago

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Wooden dollars line if ever I heard one!

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Ed the Duck 13 minutes ago

Dan Lancaster could switch Test allegiance as URC club eye Racing 92 star

Pretty simple really, scotland are incredibly small as a rugby nation and with only two pro teams, they need to fill the pipeline wherever they can.

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Derek Murray 16 minutes ago

Jacques Nienaber's Galactico recruits are driving Leinster towards a fifth star

Can’t help but admire the clear thinking and balls it requires to look at your deficiencies and then go out and bring in people to address them - and from the elite sphere too. No half-arseing about here - we need TH prop and lock and a big 12 plus the world’s best coach. Let’s go get the very best available.

And then, as you say, go all in on the changes they bring.

I’ll be cheering for their opponents in the semis and final but don’t think for a moment they have a good chance to beat this team.

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GP 31 minutes ago

Mark Tele'a made the right call but the All Blacks won't suffer

Great article.I think the Crusaders fantastic wing, Chay Fihaki has proved Razor right. He has came of age in this years Super Comp. I think he will be named in the AB squad .A long with the resurgent David Havili , Ethan Blackadder and that leader and brilliant fullback,Will Jordan.

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tf 42 minutes ago

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4 provinces? 1 wont notice, 2 will see a small increase and 1 will get a big increase.

Leinster have 11 of the 14 contracts for next season. Interesting the saving is going into the pathways for the other 3.

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TI 1 hour ago

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JD 1 hour ago

Dan Lancaster could switch Test allegiance as URC club eye Racing 92 star

U18’s yes, he then switched to England for U20’s. Essentially Dan turned his back on Scotland for England, now wants a way back in. Scotland look to be opening their arms for him. I don’t get it personally.

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JD 1 hour ago

Dan Lancaster could switch Test allegiance as URC club eye Racing 92 star

‘Superb Form’ is a little strong. He is playing better now than 6 months ago but that’s about it.

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JD 1 hour ago

'Caelan Doris... I’m not sure he gets in the Lions back row at the moment'

In that one single case from the last 10 Lions Tours? I’m not going to use that as basis for what could happen here.

In this situation we don’t need to play devils advocate every step of the way. Farrell will almost certainly be naming a tour captain who he views as the man to lead us to victory in every test vs Oz. It sets a standard, brings order and structure to the squad, allows that individual to be involved in management matters from the word go and also build comradery knowing who is leading you. It will be Doris or Itoje (or Conan as you suggest….).

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GrandDisse 2 hours ago

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DG 2 hours ago

Mark Tele'a made the right call but the All Blacks won't suffer

Calling Tele'a the best wing in the world over the last couple of years is a bit of a stretch, even for you Ben.