By sb
April 10 2003

Several of Quins U21s must be in contention for places in the forthcoming U21 World Cup taking place around Oxford in June. Players such as Chris Bell, Ugo Monye, Henry Barratt and Tom Williams have all been in this season's England U21 squad and Tom MacCormick was called up to the Scotland squad for their last game against Italy.

The tournament last year was won by South Africa.

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. Scotland are seeded 9th and will play 4th seeds Wales, 5th seeds Ireland and 12th Canada.

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

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)