U20s World Cup: France, Ireland, South Africa and England through, New Zealand and Wales out

Reigning champions France topped the seeds heading into the semi-finals of the U20s World Cup with England, Ireland and South Africa joining them while New Zealand and Wales were among those eliminated.

France ensured they moved through to the next round as the only team to have won all their games as they saw off Wales 43-19, while New Zealand missed out as a 62-19 victory against Japan was not enough to beat England’s points difference into the best second place from the three pools.

England had earlier drawn 22-22 against Australia, their second draw of the tournament, to leave them on 10 points with a points difference of 46, 23 higher than New Zealand.

Their first draw of the tournament had come against Ireland, who topped Pool B after their second consecutive 20-point victory as they defeated Fiji 47-27 in an exciting game where both sides threw caution to the wind.

With Georgia having won in the first match of the day against Italy 30-17, they stood on the verge of setting up a semi-final clash against Ireland, knowing only a win for hosts South Africa could deny them.

But despite trailing 16-7 after a poor first half against Argentina, South Africa scored 17 unanswered points in the second half to tie on points with Georgia in Pool C, beating them on head-to-head by winning their first game of the tournament against the Junior Lelos.

Georgia will still go onto achieve their best finish at an U20 Rugby World Cup, progressing to the 5th to 8th place play-offs having only previously made it to the 9th to 12th play-offs, but will feel disappointed as one of only two teams – along with New Zealand – to win two games and not make it to the semis.

Pick up a copy of Sunday’s Rugby Paper to find previews for all six of the semi-finals in each tier of the competition.

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