There are three categories of team involved in Monday’s first round of knock-out matches – the four with a chance of being champions, the next four with only pride at stake, and the bottom four desperate to avoid relegation.

The top four are playing semifinals while Fiji, Georgia, Italy and Scotland battle to avoid relegation, especially vital for Italy as their are the 2020 host nation.

Of the top four, South Africa, who are the only unbeaten side in the tournament, Australia and Argentina were winners of their pool. France, who are the reigning champions, were statistically the best of the other nine teams

The semis will be played at the Hipódromo, the stadium next to the racecourse at the Jockey Club in Rosario.

The Old Resians Club – a generous place as is the case with the great clubs of Argentina – was founded for the past pupils of Rosario English School – hence the RES of Resians. It is now the San Bartolomé School.

Fixtures for 17 June 2018

Semifinals
18.00: Argentina vs Australia at Hipódromo in Rosario
20.30: South Africa vs France at Hipódromo in Rosario

5th-8th Place
20.30: Ireland vs England in Santa Fe
15.30: New Zealand vs Wales at Hipódromo in Rosario

Promotion-Relegation
15.30: Scotland vs Italy at Old Resians in Santa Fe
18.00: Georgia vs Fiji at Old Resians in Santa Fe

Times in South Africa.

Results of Pool Rounds

Round 1
Australia vs Italy, 36-12
France vs Fiji, 36-20
Ireland vs England, 42-26
New Zealand vs Georgia, 45-11
South Africa vs Scotland, 43-19
Wales vs Argentina, 30-25

Round 2
Argentina vs Fiji, 41-14
Australia vs Ireland, 45-17
England vs Italy, 24-3
France vs Wales, 32-13
New Zealand vs Scotland, 50-33
South Africa vs Georgia, 48-20

Round 3
Argentina vs France, 47-26
England vs Australia, 56-31
Georgia vs Scotland, 17-12
Ireland vs Italy, 38-14
South Africa vs New Zealand, 25-17
Wales vs Fiji, 44-28

From the team that thumped France, Argentina have made just one change to their whole squad of 28, and that is on the bench

Junior Wallaby flyhalf Will Harrison is out because of concussion while Pat Tafa is not included after beiung sent off.

France, on the other hand,  have made many changes from the team that the Pumitas beat. In the starting XV, there are changes to fullback, left wing and scrumhalf. All three loose forwards are changed as well as a lock and two members of the front row – nine changes in all, which also affects the bench. They have only 27 in their squad as Sacha Zegueur was sent off against Argentina.

South Africa have gone one better and chosen exactly the same 28 who beat New Zealand in their last pool match.

Argentina: 15 Ignacio Mendy, 14 Rodrigo Isgró, 13 Juan Pablo Castro (captain), 12 Gerónimo Prisciantelli, 11 Mate Carreras, 10 Joaquín de la Vega Mendia, 9 Gonzalo García, 8 Bautiste Pedemonte, 7 Juan Martín Gonzalez, 6 Juan Cruz Pérez Rachel, 5 Lucas Bur, 4 Manuel Bernstein, 3 Francisco Coria, 2 Pablo Dimcheff, 1 Thomas Gallo
Replacements: 16 Francisco Minervino, 17 Mariano Muntaner, 18 Francisco Calandra, 19 Estanislao Carullo, 20 Ramiro Tallone, 21Ignacio Ruiz, 22 Jerónimo Gómez Vara, 23 Federico Parnás, 24 Joaquín Pellandini, 25 Nicolás Roger, 26 Francisco Jorge, 27 Tomás Acosta Pimentel, 28 Marco Moneta

Australia: 15 Isaac Lucas, 14 Sione Tui, 13 Semisi Tupou, 12 Noah Lolesio, 11 Mark Nawaqanitawase, 10 Ben Donaldson, 9 Michael McDonald, 8 Will Harris, 7 Fraser McReight (captain), 6 Harry Wilson, 5 Trevor Hosea, 4 Michael Wood, 3 Josh Nasser, 2 Lachlas Lonergan, 1 Angus Bell
Replacements: 16 Joe Cotton, 17 Bo Abra, 18 Darcy Breen, 19 Rhys Van Nek, 20 Esei Ha’angana, 21 Carlo Tizzano, 22 Nick Frost, 24 Henry Robertson, 26 Kye Oates, 27 Joey Walton

England: 15 Tom de Glanville, 14 Ollie Sleightholme, 13 Fraser Dingwal (captain), 12 Cameron Redpath, 11 Josh Hodge, 10 Manu Vunipola, 9 Sa Maunder, 8 Ted Hill, 7 Aaron Hinkley, 6 Richard Capstick, 5 Alex Coles, 4 Joel Kpoku, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Will Capon, 1 Kai Owen
Replacements: 16 Nic Dolly, 17 Olly Adkins, 18 James Kenny, 19 Tom Willis, 20 Rusiate Tuima, 21 Ollie Fox, 22 Connor Doherty, 23 Tom Seabrook, 24 Luke James, 25 Ollie Hassell-Collins

France: 15 Matthis Lebel, 14 Vincent Pinto, 13 Arthur Vincent (captain), 12 Julien Delbouis, 11 Donovan Taofifanua, 10 Louis Carbonel, 9 Leo Coly, 8 Jordan Joseph, 7 Thibault Hamonou, 6 Haddad Victor, 5 Killian Geraci, 4 Florent Vanverberghe, 3 Alex Burin, 2 Théo Lachand, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros
Replacements: 16 Rayne Barka, 17 Eli Eglaine, 18 Georgi Beria, 19 Paul Mallez, 20 Gauthier Maravat, 21 Mathieu Hirigoyen, 22 Loïc Hocquet, 23 Quintin Delord, 24 Mathieu Smaïli, 25 Antoine Zeghoar, 26 Ethan Dumortier, 27 Alexandre De Nardi

Ireland: 15 Jake Flannery, 14 Aaron O’Sullivan, 13 Liam Turner, 12 David Ryan, 11 Jonathan Wren, 10 Ben Healy, 9 Craig Casey, 8 Azur Allison, 7 Ronan Watters, 6 Ryan Baird, 5 Thomas Ahern, 4 Charlie Ryan, 3 Charlie Ward, 2 Dylan Tierney-Martin, 1 Michael Milne
Replacements: 16 Declan Adamson, 17 Thomas Clarkson, 18 Josh Wycherley, 19 John McKee, 20 Brian Deeny, 21 Niall Murray, 22 Luke Clohessy, 24 Colm Reilly, 25 Rob Russell, 26 Cormac Foley, 27 Angus Kernohan, 28 Max O’Reilly

New Zealand: 15 Scott Gregory, 14 Lalomilo Lalomilo, 13 Quinn Tupaea, 12 Dallas McLeod, 11 Leicester Faingaanuku, 10 Fergus Burke, 9 Taufa Funaki, 8 Devan Flanders, 7 Kohan Herbert, 6 Kaylum Boshier, 5 Tupou Vaa’i, 4 Taine Plumtree, 3 Tamaiti Williams, 2 Kianu Kereru Symes (captain), 1 OllieN orris
Replacements: 16 Shilo Klein, 17 George Dyer, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Kaliopasi Uluilakepa, 20 Cullen Grace, 21 Samipeni Finau, 22 Jeriah Mua, 23 Simon Parker, 24 Leroy Carter, 25 Rivez Reihana, 26 Billy Proctor, 27 Etene Nanai-Seturo, 28 Cole Forbes

Scotland: 15 Cameron Anderson, 14 Lomond MacPherson, 13 Rory McMichael, 12 Robbie McCallum, 11 Jack Blain, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Roan Frostwick, 8 Tom Marshall, 7 Connor Boyle (captain), 6 Marshall Sykes, 5 Cameron Henderson, 4 Ewan Johnson, 3 Euan McLaren, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Murphy Walker
Replacements: 16 Rory Jackson, 17 Andrew Nimmo, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Mak Wilson, 20 Ross Bundy, 21 Jack Hill, 22 Kwagga van Niekerk, 23 Murray Scott, 24 Teddy Leatherbarrow, 25 Nathan Chamberlain, 26 Ollie Smith, 27 Matt Davidson

South Africa: 15 Vaughen Isaacs, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Marnus Potgieter, 12 Rikus Pretorius, 11 Thaakir Abrahams, 10 James Mollentze, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Phendulani Buthelezi(captain), 7 Sibusiso Sangweni, 6 Dylan Richardson, 5 Elrigh Louw, 4 JJ van der Mescht, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Fezokuhle Mbatha, 1 Dian Bleuler
Replacements: 16 Dameon Venter, 17 Kudzwai Dube, 18 Keagan Glade, 19 Thabiso Mdletshe, 20 Jaco Labuschagne, 21 Celimpilo Gumede, 22 Zwelendaba Mnombo, 23 Sanele Nohamba, 24 Janko Swanepoel, 25 Emile van Heerden, 26 Caleb Dingaan, 27 David Coetzer, 28 David Kriel

Wales: 15 Ioan Davies, 14 Deon Smith, 13 Max Llewellyn, 12 Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler, 11 Ryan Conbeer, 10 Cai Evans, 9 Dafydd Buckland, 8 Jac Morgan, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Lennon Greggains, 5 Jac Price, 4 Morgan Jones, 3 Ben Warren, 2 Dewi Lake (captain), 1 Kemsley Mathias
Replacements: Garin Lloyd, Rhys Davies, Nick English, Ed Scragg, Iestyn Rees, Harri Morgan, Rio Dyer, Sam Costelow, Teddy Williams, Tom Devine, Ioan R Davies, Will Griffiths, Tomi Lewis

Match Officials

Scotland vs Italy at Old Resians in Santa Fe
Referee: Damon Murphy (Australia)
Assistant referees: Pali Deluca (Argentina), Nehuén Jauri Rivero (Argentina)
Television match official: Ian Smith (Australia)
Assessor: Andy MacPherson (Scotland)

Georgia vs Fiji at Old Resians in Santa Fe
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Damian Schneider (Argentina), Esteban Filipanics (Argentina)
Television match official: Santiago Borsani (Argentina)
Assessor: Andy MacPherson (Scotland)

Ireland vs England at Old Resians in Santa Fe
Referee: Ben Blain (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Pali Deluca (Argentina), Damian Schneider (Argentina)
Television match official: Santiago Borsani (Argentina)
Assessor: Matt Peters (New Zealand)

New Zealand vs Wales at Hipódromo in Rosario
Referee: Christophe Ridley (England)
Assistant referees: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia), Tomas Bertazza (Argentina)
Television match official: Brian MacNeice (Ireland)
Assessor: Matt Peters (New Zealand)

Argentina vs Australia at Hipódromo in Rosario
Referee: James Doleman (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia), Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Television match official: Brian MacNeice (Ireland)
Assessor: Gary Welsh (England)

South Africa vs France at Hipódromo in Rosario
Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)
Assistant referees: Andrea Piardi (Italy), Nehuén Jauri Rivero (Argentina)
Television match official: Ian Smith (Australia)
Assessor: Gary Welsh (England)

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