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The third and final match day of pool play of the U20’s Championship takes place on Thursday. In search of advancing to the final four Argentina face Italy. Both teams defeated Scotland but lost against England in their prior matches.
Argentina had an impressive performance against Scotland on Saturday. Their 29-13 victory saw them collecting a bonus point and was a far superior outcome to that in their 39-18 loss first up against England.
Italy go into Thursday’s match with their confidence shaken. The Italians opened their campaign with a memorable last gasp 27-26 win over Scotland. It was, however, followed by a 43-5 loss against England in game two.
Argentina’s win over Scotland has seen a settled line-up named to face the Italians. Just the one change has been made to the starting XV. It comes at tighthead with Lucio Sordoni being replaced by Mayco Vivas. Sardinia drops to the bench.
There is one further alteration to the match day 23, also coming in the replacement forwards. It sees Juan Ignacio Molina named in place of Ignacio Gandini.
Changes made by Italy see Alessandro Fusco into the side to play at fullback. Also allocated a first tournament start is fly half Filippo Di Marco. He will play inside a retained mid-field combination of Damiano Mazza and Mateo Moscardi.
Los Pumitas are favorites to win on Thursday. The rugby played by both of the teams so far in the tournament indicates that a win by 15 points is expected from Argentina’s U20’s over Italy.
ARGENTINA U20’S
15 Santiago Carreras, 14 Leopoldo Herrera, 13 Juan Pablo Castro, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Juan Bautista Daireaux, 9 Gonzalo García, 8 Bautista Pendemonte, 7 Santiago Grondona, 6 Joaquín de la Vega (capt.), 5 Lucas Paulos, 4 Salvador Ochoa, 3 Mayco Vivas, 2 Leonel Oveido, 1 Rodrigo Martínez
Replacements: 16 Agustín Milet, 17 Gonzalo Hughes, 18 Lucio Sordoni, 19 Santiago Ruiz, 20 Juan Ignacio Molina, 21 Manuel Nogues, 22 Joaquín de la Vega Mendía, 23 Ignacio Mendy
ITALY U20’S
15 Alessandro Fusco, 14 Andrea de Masi, 13 Mateo Moscardi, 12 Damiano Mazza, 11 Giovanni D’Onofrio, 10 Filippo Di Marco, 9 Nicolò Casilio, 8 Lodovico Manni, 7 Michele Lamaro, 6 Jacopo Bianchi, 5 Matteo Canali, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Michele Mancini Parri, 2 Matteo Luccardi, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Niccolò Taddia, 17 Guido Romano, 18 Matteo Nocera, 19 Davide Ruggeri, 20 Antoine Koffi, 21 Luca Crosato, 22 Antonio Rizzi, 23 Albert Einstein Batista
Date: Thursday June 07
Kick-off: 6:30pm local (1:30pm Argentina)
Venue: Stade De La Mediterranee, Béziers
Live Streaming: World Rugby
