Junior Wallabies’ appeal dismissed after under 20s washout

Rugby Australia’s appeal against the cancellation of a critical Junior Wallabies game has been dismissed by World Rugby, who determined a decision to call off the World Under 20s Championship game due to wet weather was reasonable.

RA challenged the decision on Wednesday after the Junior Wallabies’ final pool game against Ireland was called off in Cape Town due to the field being “unplayable”, following heavy rain.

Junior Wallabies five-eighth Harry McLaughlin-Phillips during a previous under 20s championship game against Italy.Credit: Getty Images

Two games were played later in the day on the same field, however, and Australian under 20s coach Nathan Grey was left fuming given the Junior Wallabies could have qualified for the semi-finals with a victory over Ireland.

The teams shared the points, which saw Ireland progress to the last four.

Grey said the conditions were fine to play in and suggested the Ireland team doctor influenced the decision of World Rugby’s tournament director.

RA high-performance boss Peter Horne lodged an appeal with World Rugby, arguing there was not due consideration given to delaying or rescheduling the game, as per tournament rules, and called for the game to played on Wednesday.

The state of Athlone Stadium in Cape Town, when the decision was made it was unplayable.

A World Rugby hearing overnight backed the tournament director’s call to cancel the game, however, and said it was not unreasonable to not reschedule given the logistical challenges of playing a game the next day, and the fact both teams would lose a day in preparation for the semi-finals on Sunday.

Ireland provided a written submission backing World Rugby’s decision to cancel the game.

Coach Nathan Grey was not happy with the World Rugby decision.Credit: Getty Images

The Junior Wallabies will play Wales on Sunday in a 5-8th play-off game.

Grey recorded an interview after the initial decision, in which he suggested Ireland’s doctor had influenced World Rugby’s decision.

The interview - with a caption of “The Nathan Grey hot take” - was posted on RugbyPass but was later taken down. World Rugby own RugbyPass.

“Bitterly disappointed for the players and the staff … but the decision has been taken out of our hands and we don’t get the opportunity to play Ireland and finish on top of our pool,” Grey said.

“We played two games of the [under 20s] Rugby Championships this year ... in much worse conditions but a strong push from the Irish doctor seemed to work with World Rugby around cancelling the game.

“It is what it is. The decision has been taken out of our hands and we will just have to cop it. The boys are shattered. I am sure World Rugby are doing it for the right reasons, I just hope they’re true.”

Asked what he would have preferred happened, Grey said: “Play the game. The conditions are fine. The surface water is not really that bad.

“Yeah, it’s boggy, it’s wet but no worse than Ireland would have played in before and certainly that we have played in before.

“The conditions were probably better than what we played against Italy in, so it’s a bit confusing.”

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