The Fiji U20s rugby team will face Italy in one of the ninth-place semi-finals at the World Rugby U20 Championship.
This match is scheduled for a 9 pm kick-off (Fiji Time) on Sunday, July 9, at the Paarl Gymnasium in South Africa. The other ninth-place semi-final will feature Argentina against Japan, with their match taking place at 11:30 pm.
The four teams are competing to avoid relegation to the U20 Trophy competition in 2024. The team that finishes last or eleventh in the U20 Championship will be relegated.
Fiji finished at the bottom of their Pool B group in the tournament, losing all their matches. They were defeated by Ireland 27-47, England 7-53, and Australia 37-46. Italy also finished last in their Pool C, but with a win from three games – their lone win scored against the hosts South Africa 34-26. They lost against Argentina 15-43, and Georgia 17-30.
In the previous age-grade championship held in 2019, Fiji managed to avoid relegation by defeating Scotland 59-34 in the 11th place play-offs, which also marked their highest-ever score in the U20 Championship.
Caption: Fiji Captain Moti Murray hands over a jersey to captain Diarmuid Mangan of Ireland during the World Rugby U20 Championship 2023, Pool B match between Ireland and Fiji (Photo by World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images)
