By Mally (08/04/03)
April 8 2003

Several Newcastle Falcons U21s, including Phl Godman (pictured) could find themselves playing in the U21s World Cup over the summer. The England trio Geoffrey Parling, Matt Thompson and Ben Woods have Australia on June 13th to look forward to, as England's U21s will take on Australia in the first match of the IRB U21s World Cup. Meanwhile Falcons' Phil Godman and Mark Rennie could face Wales in Scotland's first match.

The tournament starts with pool games played at Oxford University, Henley Hawks RFC and Newbury RFC. The semi finals on 25th June and the June 29th are to be played at Oxford's Kassam Stadium.

England are in Pool C seeded 6, and will play Australia (last year's runners-up seeded 2), Japan (9th seed) and France seeded 5th. Somewhat confusingly Pool A takes on Pool D, and Pool B takes on Pool D, rather than a straightforward group system.

IRB U21 World Cup Pools & Seeding

Pool A

1. South Africa
8. Argentina
9. Scotland

Pool B

2. Australia
7. France
10. Japan

Pool C

3. New Zealand
6. England
11. Italy

Pool D

4. Wales
5. Ireland
12. Canada

Peter Drewett, England U21s Manager, has described the World Cup schedule as "challenging".

"Our pool games against Australia, Japan and France will provide excellent opportunities for players to test themselves against some of the best in the world and opening against Australia will help the team to focus right from the beginning"

With the tournament being held in England it is hoped it will be a "great opportunity to promote the game in England" and to see the stars of the future.

Tournament Structure

The pool games take place June 13th - June 21st, Pool A plays D, and England's Pool C takes on the teams in Pool B.

Day 1 - 13th June

South Africa v Ireland
Argentina v Canada
Scotland v Wales
Australia v England
France v Italy
Japan v New Zealand

Day 2 - 17th June

South Africa v Canada
Argentina v Wales
Scotland v Ireland
Australia v Italy
France v New Zealand
Japan v England

Day 3 - 21st June

South Africa v Wales
Argentina v Ireland
Scotland v Canada
Australia v New Zealand
France v England
Japan v Italy

Semi - Finals

The Semi-Finals take place on June 25th with teams having been ranked into new combined pools A/D and B/C as a result of the pool games.

1st Pool A/D v 2nd Pool B/C (Match 19)
2nd Pool A/D v 1st Pool B/C (Match 20)
3rd Pool A/D v 4th Pool B/C (Match 21)
4th Pool A/D v 3rd Pool B/C (Match 22)
5th Pool A/D v 6th Pool B/C (Match 23)
6th Pool A/D v 5th Pool B/C (Match 24)

Finals

The final positions are decided on June 29th, as all twelve teams play off.

Winner M19 v Winner M20 (FINAL)
Loser M19 v Loser M20 (3rd/4th playoff)
Winner M21 v Winner M22 (5th/6th playoff)
Loser M21 v Loser M22 (7th/8th playoff)
Winner M23 v Winner M24 (9th/10th playoff)
Loser M23 v Loser M24 (11th/12th playoff)

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