Preview: U20 World Cup Round 2

England skipper Charlie Ewels insisted his team will require better concentration and accuracy when they face Wales in Round Two of the Under-20 World Cup this weekend.

Jon Callard's charges got the defence of their title off with an impressive 59-7 win over Japan in the opening round on Tuesday.

Bath lock Ewels -a dominant presence in the opening 40 minutes before being replaced by Exeter Chiefs' Sam Skinner -found encouraging aspects as well as areas to improve.

"We always focus on performance and I think in the first half we got a lot of things right," he said. "Second half not so much, but then fair play to the Japanese, they came out and put us under some real pressure.

"We've been working really hard on attack in training so it was nice to start off at set-piece and score.

"Things clicked and went well from there [until half-time] but then they weren't so good in the second half.

"We're still after that 80-minute performance because ultimately, to beat the best teams in this tournament, you need to perform for 80 minutes."

A veteran of last season's Junior World Championship victory in New Zealand, he turned his attention to the next assignment – Wales on Saturday.

In February, England were overturned 21-15 by the same opponents to begin the Six Nations before battling back to win the competition following a superb 24-11 defeat of France in Brighton.

"We're a different side to what we were back then." Ewels said.

"We talk about building through competitions and we built through that Six Nations.

"Hopefully we've kicked on from where we finished against France in the last game of that tournament and we are a better side again.

"Both teams have had more time together but we definitely want to put that result right.

"It wasn't a good way to start the Six Nations so hopefully we can put a performance in."

England coach Jon Callard said: "Wales played very well that day, we weren't on our game and they forced a lot of errors.  We learned a huge amount from that experience and have since progressed from strength to strength.

"Wales, however, will also have developed throughout the Six Nations so we know that tomorrow will be a tough fixture."

In their first pool game Wales went down 10-19 to France, so will be keen to take their performance to the next level against England.  

"A team always hurts after a defeat," Callard added.  

"In this competition every game matters because of the format, but for us it is about staying composed and keeping to our processes. "

Wales coaching coordinator Allan Lewis said: "We have strength in depth in these positions which gives us a chance to give these players a start in what is another huge game.

"It is obvious that we made too many fundamental errors against France which you can't afford to do at this level. Even though we got back into the game, we weren't able to build any continuity to our performance and that cost us.

"England have a powerful pack, we know their strengths and weaknesses and although they are champions at this level, teams change every year at this age and we beat them in the Six Nations so we know we can win if we perform as we did in Colwyn Bay.

"We have trained well, but our priority is to play as we've trained. If we do that, and are accurate and clinical, as we know we can be from some of our Six Nations performances, then the result will take care of itself."

Last year's beaten finalists South Africa, who started with a sloppy win over hosts Italy, face the abrasive Samoan team.

"We expect Samoa to be very physical," Junior Springbok coach Dawie Theron said.

"We saw their opening game against Australia and it is clear they come out with a lot of physicality, while they also have an appetite for running the ball. You have to be very aware, especially on your defence, because they run from everywhere.

"We are well-prepared and we are ready for it."

New Zealand, another of the tournament favourites, will be up against a very willing Argentina – after starting their campaign with a 68-10 demolition of Scotland.

Meanwhile two players – Archie Russell (Scotland) and Elia Elia (Samoa) – were slapped with two-match suspensions for foul play.

Scotland outside centre Russell was cited for an act of foul play contrary to Law 10.4(j): Dangerous tackle. This follows his team's match against New Zealand.

The player denied the act of foul play. The judicial officer upheld the citing having heard the evidence. The judicial officer determined that the foul play warranted a low-end entry point sanction of four weeks, which was reduced by two weeks to take into account several mitigating factors including the player's clean disciplinary record.

The final sanction of two weeks will be applied over two matches at the U20 World Cup and the player is therefore suspended from playing until midnight on 10 June, 2015. He will be available for selection on match days four and five of the tournament.

Samoa hooker Elia was also cited for an act of foul play – contrary to Law 10.4(j): Dangerous tackle. It followed his team's match with Australia.

The player denied the act of foul play. The judicial officer upheld the citing having heard the evidence. The judicial officer determined that the foul play warranted a low-end entry point sanction of four weeks which was reduced by two weeks to take into account several mitigating factors including the player's clean disciplinary record.

The final sanction of two weeks will be applied over two matches in the U20 World Cup and the player is therefore suspended from playing rugby until midnight on 10 June, 2015. He will be available for selection on match days four and five of the tournament.

The players have the right of appeal.

 Pools:

Pool A: England, France, Japan, Wales

Pool B: South Africa, Australia, Samoa, Italy

Pool C: Argentina, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland

Fixture for Round Two:

(Kick-off is local time – GMT minus two hour)

Saturday, June 6

France v Japan (16.30) – Parma

Ireland v Scotland (16.30) – Calvisano

South Africa v Samoa (18.30) – Parma

New Zealand v Argentina (18.30) – Calvisano

England v Wales (20.30) – Calvisano

Australia v Italy (20.30) – Parma

Source: @WorldRugby