USA U20s and Ireland U20s have named their lineups for Tuesday's Round 3 match at the World Junior Championships.
With this lineup as announced, every player on the trip will have seen the field.
After dealing with illness in the squad, the USA team is set to take on an Ireland team that could be within reach in what has been an enormously difficult pool.
Right now, the USA sits 4th in Pool C having lost to both Argentina and England. Ireland is also 0-2 but has more bonus points as they scored four tries against both opponents and also lost to England by only seven.
The tournament is formatted for the pool winners to go into the semifinals, the 2nd-place teams to play semis and final for 5th, the 3rd-place teams to shoot for 9th, and the 4th-place teams to shoot for 13th. Right now, Ireland and the USA are playing for the right to play for 9th.
Ireland is excellent at keeping the ball, and their 56% possession rate is second in the entire tournament (behind South Africa), and they move the ball past first phase and past second phase more than any team in the JWC.
This is thanks in large part to Diarmaid O'Connell, who leads the team, by a wide margin, in attacking breakdown work.
The Irish also have a 100% success rate in the scrum, which combines nicely, for them, with the USA's tournament-lowest 67% scrum win rate.
However, Ireland's lineout is the least successful in the JWC.
Both teams have been very good in retaining ball after kicks in open play. What the USA will want to improve is their tackle success rate, as they have missed more tackles, 89, than any other team in the tournament.
The USA is just OK at making the gainline and they have relied heavily on Papa Matelau (who is rested for the Ireland game) to carry the ball and make meters in traffic. Matelau leads all JWC forwards in carries and meters gained, but somebody else needs to carry the load.
At ruck time, Colin Donnelly, Jayden Williams, and Sawyer Troupe are the workhorses there. Defensively in the rucks, it's Matelau, but overall the U20s have been reluctant to attempt to poach the ball, choosing not to risk the penalties.
Overall in contact, the USA is above average in making dominant collisions, while Ireland is below average.
Ireland vs USA U20s will kick off 5AM ET on Tuesday on Paramount+.
