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Hong Kong drawn with top seeds US in junior world trophy

The future stars of the game from Canada, Georgia, Hong Kong, Japan, Namibia, Tonga, United States and Uruguay will come together in Hong Kong next April for the seventh Junior World Rugby Trophy. It is the first time it has been staged in Asia.

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Eight international unions will be trying to get their hands on the seventh Junior World Rugby Trophy in Hong Kong next April. Photo: HKRFU

The future stars of the game from eight international unions – Canada, Georgia, Hong Kong, Japan, Namibia, Tonga, United States and Uruguay – will come together in Hong Kong next April for the seventh IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy. It is the first time it has been staged in Asia.

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The US and Canada are the top seeds in the tournament and head pools A and B respectively. Fourth seeds Tonga, fifth seeds Georgia and hosts Hong Kong (eighth seeds) round out pool A, while pool B sees third seeds Japan, sixth seeds Uruguay and seventh seeds Namibia join the Canadians.

The under-20 tournament will comprise 16 matches in the pool stages on April 7, 11 and 15 at the Hong Kong Football Club. The finals will be held on April 19. The last edition of the tournament was in June in Chile.

We are incredibly proud to play host to the up-and-coming stars of the rugby world
Vern Reid

As the champions of the 2012 edition, the US were promoted to the IRB Junior World Championship in 2013 but were relegated after finishing at the bottom of the log earlier this year in France. Their status as the last participating team in the JWC allows them to enter the trophy as the top seeds. Once again the winners of this year’s tournament will be promoted to the JWC 2015.

In June, Canada lost 45-23 to Italy in the final of the JWRT giving them their pool B top seed in Hong Kong. While not quite reaching their goal of promotion to the JWC, the Canadians were satisfied with a result that saw them move from sixth-placed finishers in 2012 to runners-up in 2013.

Tournament third seeds Japan are playing in their fifth JWRT event and hold the all-time record for points with 505, ahead of fellow 2014 participants Canada (485), Georgia (444), Uruguay (442) and US (369).

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Japan qualified after an emphatic win at the regional (ARFU) Under-19 Championship in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, scoring an impressive 216 points, while conceding just 14.

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