It is crunch time for the England U20 men to defend their title at the World Rugby Championships as they need to win against Australia to have any chance of progressing as one of the top four teams.
The U20s started well with a win against Scotland U20 56-19, but a loss to South Africa U20s 32-22 has put England’s qualification as first in the group in jeopardy. With three groups and only the top team in each group guaranteed qualification to the top four knockout stages to challenge for the title, England are most likely going to have to hope they can qualify as the best second-placed team.
Australia are heading into the game in the same scenario, but have a worse try points score than England, so they need a big win against them to have any chance of qualifying in the top four.
England U20 vs Australia U20 key information
• Date: Wednesday, July 9
• Kick-off time: 5pm BST
• Venue: Payanini Center, Verona
• Referee: Jeremy Rozier
• TMO: Aled Griffiths
• Streaming: rugbypass.tv (UK)
England team news
Head coach Mark Mapletoft and his assistant coach, Andy Titterrell, have named their squad for the final pool game against Australia. Hooker Kepu Tuipulotu will captain the side for the first time after featuring twice so far in the tournament. Despite scoring two tries against Scotland and one against the Junior Springboks, winger Jack Bracken has to make do as a replacement this time out.
There are first starts for winger Noah Caluori and forward Aiden Ainsworth-Cave at U20 level, with this being Caluori’s second cap.
England U20 confirmed lineup vs Australia
Coach: Mark Mapletoft
Bellamy, Caluori, Ridl, Allison, Offiah, Coen, McParland, McEachran, Tuipulotu, Sela, Sodeke, Kpoku, Ainsworth-Cave, Treacey, James
Australia team news
Australia know they need a big performance to come through against England. The Junior Wallabies lost by a huge margin versus South Africa, 73-17, and had to pick themselves up before the game against Scotland. Coach Chris Whitaker made massive changes to his team for that game and managed to pull away from their opponents in the second half.
With a number of changes made to the team between their two matches, we anticipate Whitaker may show fewer changes this time, trusting the players who got Australia through against Scotland.
Australia U20 predicted lineup vs England
Coach: Chris Whitaker
Tiitii, Ata, Langi, Mangelsdorf, Doyle, Langi, Robinsom. Morrsion, Martens, Dillon, Conway, Enasio, Grover, Watter, Harvey
Where to watch on TV or live stream?
The Rugby U20 World Championships are not being shown on any TV Channels. Instead, you can stream the action on rugbypass.tv. All pool matches are available live and for free on RugbyPass TV in the UK, meaning you can tune in to see if the young England team can qualify for the top four knockouts and defend their title.
Head-to-Head record
England U20 and Australia U20 have played each other six times in their history, and England have not lost one of those matches (5W, 1D). Their most recent match came in the 2023 U20 World Championships, where they drew 22-22 thanks to a 78th-minute try for Australia.
Both come into this game having lost to the Junior Springboks and won against Scotland. It creates an intriguing clash where both need to win and both could.