The Junior World Championships will conclude Friday for the USA U20s with a match against Uruguay.
This game is for 15th out of the 16 teams. Both teams have lost all their matches so far, and while that's not ideal, it's also not unexpected. The Junior Eagles were in an enormously difficult pool against Argentina, England, and Ireland, all teams that have their players in professional, professional academy, or major club programs with an eye toward going pro.
Then they played Japan, which is constructed on lines much more akin to the USA team, with players from a relatively small group of major university teams. In that match the USA was right there with the young Blossoms until about 10 minutes into the second half, when the composure wheels seemed to fall off.
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Still, overall, they have competed and scored tries against some very good teams. They have also given up a lot of tries.
For Uruguay, pool play was rougher. They lost to South Africa, Wales, and Georgia while scoring exactly one try. Against Spain they lost 57-6.
So offense has been a problem for the Uruguay side. By comparison, the USA has scored 14 tries in their four games.
Uruguay leads the tournament in kicks from hand per game (23.5) and they have an excellent scrum-win percentage at 97.5%. The USA kicks the least and is last in lineout success and 15th in scrum success and ruck success. The two teams have the two lowest tackle percentages in the tournament.
Uruguay's offensive stats are not strong because they kick the ball away so much and try to play field position. So they are last in Meters Carried, entries into the opposition 22, Line Breaks, and points per 22 entry.
The USA is 6th in the tournament in line breaks and 5th in points per 22 entry. But they also lead the tournament in turnovers conceded.
So, the lesson for the USA is to work hard to keep the ball and make Uruguay pay for kicking to them. And ball-handling is crucial for the Junior Eagles. They would need to prioritize catching and holding onto the ball over everything else, because knock-ons means scrums, and scrums are going to be trouble.
And finally, for the USA, they need to execute their lineouts better—72.5% is not good enough. (Argentina is the best at 96.7%.)
Here is the final round schedule for the Junior World Championships (games on Paramount+):
Friday, July 17 (all times Eastern)
USA vs Uruguay for 15th: KO 10AM
Argentina vs Australia for 7th: KO 10AM
Japan vs Spain for 13th: KO 12:30PM
Scotland vs Wales for for 5th: KO 12:30PM
Saturday, July 18 (all times Eastern)
Georgia vs Fiji for 11th: KO 10AM
New Zealand vs England for 3rd: KO 10AM
Italy vs Ireland for 9th: KO 12:30PM
France vs South Africa FINAL: KO 12:30AM
