- The 2026 World Rugby U20 Championship final between France and South Africa will take place on Saturday, July 18, 2026. The match is scheduled to be held at the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium in Tbilisi, Georgia.
"VAN" (Sports Desk - 14.07.2026) :: France will face South Africa in the World Rugby Junior World Championship 2026 final after they ended the title hopes of New Zealand and England respectively in Tbilisi on Monday.
It will be the first time these sides, this year's U20 Six Nations and U20 Rugby Championship winners, will meet in the Junior World Championship final with South Africa bidding to defend their crown and France seeking a fourth title.
The Junior Springboks showed their class to defeat England 53-37 in a match that saw two red cards, hours after Les Bleuets had scored a late winner to beat New Zealand 26-22.
Defeat for England and New Zealand means they will face off on Saturday in the third place play-off at Mikheil Meskhi Stadium in Tbilisi, which will be played as a curtain-raiser to the final.
There were also wins on Monday for Italy and Ireland in the ninth place semi-finals in Kutaisi. Italy enjoyed a dream first half in beating hosts Georgia 43-19, while Ireland held on to beat Fiji 24-19.
The ranking matches from fifth to eighth and 13th to 16th had been set on Sunday when Scotland, Wales, Japan and Spain all tasted victory.
Argentina and Australia had sat top of their pools and been dreaming of a semi-final appearance going into the final round of matches, but will now meet in the seventh place play-off after suffering losses in entertaining matches against Scotland and Wales respectively at Avchala Stadium in the Georgian capital.
Japan and Spain, meanwhile, picked up their first wins of the World Rugby Junior World Championship 2026 after running in a combined 20 tries to see off USA and Japan in the 13th place semi-finals at AIA Arena in Kutaisi.
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