Wholesale changes for NZ U20

 

Robertson has mad 12 changes to the starting XV who narrowly defeated Argentina last weekend as they prepare for their must-win game against Ireland.  

 

"We definitely need to be a lot smarter," he explained. "We’ve assessed how we played at the weekend and improved our game understanding. Argentina slowed our game down quite a lot. They stopped us playing by a lot of different means and we have to be much smarter in the way we deal with that.

 

"They were very clear in the way they wanted to stop us playing, obviously with mauls, keeping the ball tight, playing one-two ball rugby, and just keeping to the short side. We didn’t deal with it that well, but fortunately we got through with the win."

 

New Zealand, along with England, South Africa and Australia, are all on 10 points at this stage of the tournament, and Ireland, who are also unbeaten, trail behind with eight. Competition for the top four is very tight. 

 

"A do or die quarterfinal against Ireland waits for us, so winner takes all," acknowledged Robertson.

 

"Our focus is to finish on top with the best for and against record. There’s only six points between the top three teams at the moment, including us." 

 

England currently has a points difference of 66, New Zealand has 61 with South Africa just behind on 60.

 

"We watched Ireland in the Six Nations and in their last two pool games and they haven't changed too much. They’re very similar to Scotland in a lot of ways. They love the maul, They’re really good around their attack strategy and counter attack.

 

"This game is a priority and our intention is hopefully to create enough forward thrust to finish fine, while respecting Ireland in our preparation and winning the match. The opportunity is there to score as many as we can, but the best thing is to win it!

 

"We’ll have to make sure we get some really good top quality ball off our set piece to create opportunities for our backs, but more importantly if we can keep our penalty count down, We’ll keep it away from any set piece drives and protect our goal line.

 

"We’ve picked a strong line-up which can get us the result we need to finish at the top. Otere Black comes in at flyhalf, along with Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi at scrumhalf, and we have some solid leadership with Atunaisa Moli to start at captain and Jack Goodhue as our vice-captain," he added.

 

Fresh off the plane, midfielder Anton Lienert-Brown will arrive to watch on the sidelines at Stadio Luigi Zaffanella, after being released from the Chiefs. He has replaced Mitchell Karpik who picked up an ankle injury during the game against Argentina.

 

New Zealand will play Ireland this Wednesday at Stadio Luigi Zaffanella, Viadana. 

 

New Zealand Under-20s: 15 Luteru Laulala, 14 Tevita Li, 13 Jack Goodhue, 12 Nathaniel Apa, 11 Vincent Tavae-Aso, 10 Otere Black, 9 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 8 Akira Ioane, 7 Blake Gibson, 6 James Blackwell, 5 Hamish Dalzell, 4 Joshua Goodhue, 3 Atunaisa Moli (captain), 2 Liam Polwart, 1 Isileli Tu'ungafasi.

Replacements: 16  Ricky Riccitelli, 17 Aidan Ross, 18 Tau Koloamatangi, 19 Mitchell Dunshea, 20 Henry Stowers, 21 Harrison Levien, 22 Tinoai Faiane, 23 Mitchell Hunt.

 

Date: Wednesday, June 10

Venue: Stadio Luigi Zaffanella, Viadana

Kick-off: 20:30 (18.30 GMT)

Referee: TBC

Assistant referees: TBC