The eighth round of Super Rugby Pacific saw Moana Pasifika create more history as the Chiefs and Blues battled manfully to wins in the Hamilton and Auckland.
It was the French who caught the eye in round one with six of their eight teams winning, including Stade Rochelais and Toulon away from home.
It's semi-finals Sunday at the World Rugby U20 Championship and following last Tuesday’s weather-affected schedule, the hope will be that all six matches will be played to an 80-minute conclusion unlike on match day three when there were just four and a half matches completed due to the heavy rain making pitches unplayable.
Three matches are scheduled for Athlone: Ireland-Australia (2pm local time), France-Wales (4:30pm) and South Africa-England (7pm). Over in Stellenbosch, it’s Argentina-Fiji (2pm), Georgia-Italy (4:30pm) and New Zealand-Spain (7pm).
Nigel Hotham, the brains behind Hamilton Boys High's world-class rugby programme, has stepped down as the school's first XV coach after a remarkable 21 years.
Three matches are scheduled for Stellenbosch: Ireland vs Georgia (kick-off 2pm local), France vs New Zealand (4:30pm) and South Africa vs Argentina (7pm). Over in Athlone, Wales vs Spain is the opening match (2pm) followed by England vs Fiji (4:30pm) and Australia vs Italy (7pm).
The age-grade South Africans got their World Rugby U20 Championship off to a winning start with a 57-7 victory over Fiji last Saturday at DHL Stadium, but they have now changed two of their backline, one of their pack and altered their bench which is now made up of six forwards and two backs.
It will be round three in Athlone on July 9 when that fancied duo – last year’s beaten semi-finalists – go head-to-head in an intriguing group that also contains a dangerous Argentina and a little known Fiji.
Junior Springboks vice-captain JF van Heerden held back tears earlier this week after being asked about what it means to play for South Africa.
Zachary Porthen will lead the Junior Springboks in a historic U20 Rugby Championship clash against traditional rugby rivals New Zealand