New Zealand Under 20 Head Coach Craig Philpott has named his side to open their World Rugby U20 Championship campaign in France tomorrow morning.

New Zealand will face Japan in Narbonne, France, kick off 7am NZT.

1. Xavier Numia

Wellington

2. Flynn Thomas

Southland

3. Tevita Mafileo

Bay of Plenty

4. John Akau'ola-Laula

Auckland

5. Will Tucker

Canterbury

6. Tom Florence

Taranaki

7. Tom Christie - captain

Canterbury

8. Hoskins Sotutu

Auckland

9. Xavier Roe

Waikato

10. Kaleb Trask

Bay of Plenty

11. Leicester Faingaanuku

Tasman

12. Billy Proctor

Wellington

13. Bailyn Sullivan

Waikato

14. Jamie Spowart

Tasman

15. Vilimoni Koroi

Otago                           

16. Ricky Jackson

Otago

17. Sione Asi

Manawatu

18. Rob Cobb

Auckland

19. Waimana Riedlinger-Kapa

Auckland

20. Will Tremain

Hawke's Bay

21. Jay Renton

Southland

22. Harry Plummer

Auckland

23. Scott Gregory

Northland

Philpott said the team has adjusted well in France and players were looking forward to their first match.

“We were travelling for the best part of 40 hours so arrived here reasonably jaded. We’ve had three or four days to get our feet on the ground and some really good training runs and we’re in pretty good shape to come out and perform against Japan,” he said.

In selecting the team for the first match against Japan, Philpott said workload management was at front of mind.

“We’ve got five Test matches in 19 days and a squad of 28; you need to make sure you manage combinations so that you get the very best out of all 28 players. Over these first two games we want to make sure everybody gets an opportunity to contribute and so we are managing the workload accordingly.”

The New Zealand Under 20 team will be looking to continue their form that saw them go through the Oceania Championship undefeated.

“We haven’t had a chance to see any footage of Japan play so the focus has been on us; we’ve been working on our structures in attack and defence and getting them back in place, making sure everyone is really clear how we want to play the game.”

For the full coach interview CLICK HERE 

All matches will be broadcast on TVNZ Duke and streamed live on tvnz.co.nz

Information on World Rugby Under 20 Championship Visit tournament website HERE

Source: NZR, May 30th 2018