Recap: More than pride is at stake here, first place at the end of the round-robin passes go, collects 4 years of WR funding straight to Japan, while second place enters the repechage. Last week Namibia beat Uganda, while Morocco tied with Zimbabwe, hence the table looks like this:
This week: Tunisia kicks off their Gold Cup campaign this weekend in Namibia, while Morocco hosts Kenya. Both games are on Saturday (23/6), both games kickoff at 15:00 (UTC), there should be a stream, which I'll share on twitter (@BTCBlurandski). Namibia is a heavy favourite, while Kenya should win, but given Morocco's strong away performance last week it could be close. Even more so when you consider that the Simbas (Kenya) have names five uncapped players in the touring squad, two starting, and three on the bench.
Asia Rugby Championship Division 1
Division 1 is the second tier of rugby in Asia, with he Asia Rugby Championship consisting of Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea, with a promotion/relegation challenge against the winner of D1 (bar this year, where Japan was replaced by Malaysia for the purposes of Rugby World Cup 2019 Qualifying. This year Division 1 consists of just the Philippines and Singapore, due to Malaysia moving up, and Sri Lanka dropping out, so they're playing a two-legged playoff on the 23/06 and the 26/06 (both matches kick off at 15:00 UTC). Singapore are newly promoted to Division 1, having yo-yo'd back from been relegated in 2016. The last two matches between the sides were in 2015 and 2016. Singapore lost the former 20-17, and won the latter 28-24. It looks like it could potentially be another close series this time.
Rwandan Genocide Memorial Sevens
This is the 6th edition of the Memorial Sevens, and it is taking place in the 30,000 seater Amahoro National Stadium, which functioned as a UN protected site in the genocide. It takes place on Saturday, and 12 teams are participating, and increase of four from last year. There are 10 local teams and two guest teams (Mbarara University, Uganda and Okapi Goma, DR Congo). Last year's champions Thousand Hills are returning, and so are the losing finalists Mbarara University. Last year the event was preceded by a 'walk to remember' from the convention centre to the stadium.
June Internationals
Georgia plays Japan in Toyota, the stadium where they'll take Wales next year. They lost to 2019 pool rivals Fiji 37-15 last week (having kept it close up until half time). Given that Fiji v Georgia will very likely be the automatic qualification decider for 2023 next year (third place in the pool gets automatic RWC qualification), Georgia should be looking to make a statement this week. While you may be expecting a brutal Georgian pack grinding out a win against Japan you'd be mistaken. The Georgian pack, which is traditionally one of the best in the world looked pretty weak against Fiji, and there's been some doubt raised over the capability of their forwards coach. Meanwhile the Georgian U20s have been producing some wonderful backs over the past few years (as seen at the U20 Championship in France), and while up until the past few years Georgia has struggled to get any backs into a full-time environment, now quality Georgian backs (Tamaz Mchedlidze, 25, Agen; Vasil Lobzhanidze, 21, Brive (already with 34 NT Caps!); Merab Sharikadze, 25, Aurillac) are being scouted by the Top 14, while the rest of the players play in the professional Didi 10 in Georgia (and potentially soon Kontinental Rugby). As a result Georgian back play can be a thing of beauty. Given the level of skills in the Japanese team this match has the potential to be one of the most entertaining matches of the international break, it's my personal match of the week. Georgia has won one out of five matches versus Japan, with an average net point differential of 5.2 points. When a stream is available I'll post it on my twitter. Kicks off at 13:45 (UTC) on Saturday.
Fiji v Tonga is the final islander match of the summer. Fiji are the definite favourites given that they beat Georgia, who narrowly beat Tonga, but any islander match is great fun to watch. The match should be streamed on World Rugby's website. The two teams have met 90 times, with Fiji winning 61 times to Tonga's 26 (3 draws)
Major League Rugby
It's the final regular season round of Major League Rugby this week, Utah take on Houston at home, while San Diego Legion host Glendale Raptors. The first tie-breaker is PD, however it's hard to see past Utah beating Houston, and no-one bar locked in number two seed Seattle has come close to them set far, and they've looked much the same team without their Eagles.
That's all that's happening this week across Tier 2 & 3, if there's anything I've missed, or you'd like me to write about, please contact me on twitter @BTCBlurandski.
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