2018 New Zealand U20s
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The NZ U20s team to play Japan has been named. Probably the easiest opponent of the tournament, so that may explain why this isn't the strongest possible line-up.
Kick-off: 7.00am NZT; LIVE on Duke.
Squad:
1 Xavier Numia - Wellington
2 Flynn Thomas - Southland
3 Tevita Mafileo - Bay of Plenty
4 John Akau'ola-Laula - Auckland
5 Will Tucker - Canterbury
6 Tom Florence - Taranaki
7 Tom Christie - captain - Canterbury
8 Hoskins Sotutu - Auckland
9 Xavier Roe - Waikato
10 Kaleb Trask - Bay of Plenty
11 Leicester Faingaanuku - Ta$man
12 Billy Proctor - Wellington
13 Bailyn Sullivan - Waikato
14 Jamie Spowart - Ta$man
15 Vilimoni Koroi - Otago
16 Ricky Jackson -Otago
17 Sione Asi - Manawatu
18 Rob Cobb - Auckland
19 Waimana Riedlinger-Kapa - Auckland
20 Will Tremain - Hawke's Bay
21 Jay Renton - Southland
22 Harry Plummer - Auckland
23 Scott Gregory - NorthlandIn selecting the team for the first match against Japan, Philpott said workload management was at front of mind. “We’ve got five Test matches in 19 days and a squad of 28; you need to make sure you manage combinations so that you get the very best out of all 28 players. Over these first two games we want to make sure everybody gets an opportunity to contribute and so we are managing the workload accordingly.”http://www.allblacks.com/News/32483/nz-under-20-side-named-world-cup-opener-against-japan
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I admit to being a critic of Sky, but this shows how things deteriorate when Sky isn't the broadcaster in NZ. This year, we can only watch two games from each match day (on tv and online). IIRC, Sky used to televise two games (live) simultaneously on two different channels, and show replays of the other games.
This is Duke's broadcast schedule for match day 1 (on tv and online):
day NZ date NZT Local match where pool watch/results Thu 31 May 4.30am 6.30pm* S Africa v Georgia Perpignan C Thu 31 May 4.30am 6.30pm* England v Argentina Narbonne B Thu 31 May 4.30am 6.30pm* Scotland v Italy Béziers B Duke (live); replay 2.50pm (Thu) Thu 31 May 7.00am 9.00pm* New Zealand v Japan Narbonne A Duke (live); replay 4.40pm (Thu) / 11.35am (Sat) Thu 31 May 7.00am 9.00pm* Australia v Wales Béziers A Thu 31 May 7.00am 9.00pm* France v Ireland Perpignan C ^previous day
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Edit: all games will be livestreamed on the World Rugby website, but may be geo-blocked.
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This is the Japanese squad (15 - 1): Kyohei Yamasawa, Halatoa Vailea, Siosaia Fifita, Yuto Mori, Koga Nezuka, Hiroto Mamada, Shinobu Fujiwara; Asipeli Moala, Hisanobu Okayama, Kai Yamamoto, Ryuga Hashimoto, Kanji Shimokawa, Gakuto Ishida, Miyu Arai, Yusuke Yamada.
Reserves: Yuichiro Taniguchi, Ryunosuke Momoji, Rento Tsukayama, Kaito Aibe, Shota Fukui, Atora Hondo, Yu Saruta, Yoshiyuki Koga.
Some Pacific names in that squad.
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Stats after 14 minutes:
Tackles made:
15 by both teamsTackles missed:
1 NZ
15 JapanThat will be more now. Spowart dots down after a pass from Roe after the line-out. Unfortunately, the pass was forward, so the try is correctly disallowed. 15 minutes gone.
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Wow, what an awesome coast-to-coast try from Bailyn Sullivan! Best try thus far. Should add that Japan's defence is awful.
Very good kick from Trask: 31 - 0 after 22 minutes. This is going to be a massacre. As expected, against the weakest opponent in the tournament.
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Defence and set piece highlights of nz first half. Agree about Sotutu, Flanders far better option
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@stargazer noticed in 2nd try he got smacked in head. If that was nz wld be yellow card for sure, even if tried scored
