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Tom Coleman

Today's rugby news as Wales boss 'really disappointed' and legends pay tribute to tragic coach

Here's your round-up of all the latest rugby news for Wednesday, July 5.

Jones rues lack of ruthlessness in France defeat

Wales boss Mark Jones admits his side failed to make the most of their opportunities, as they ended the pool phase of their U-20 World Championship campaign with a 43-19 defeat at the hands of France.

Despite battling admirably, France never looked too troubled on the day, despite going down to 14 men early on, and eased their way to a victory that sealed top spot in Pool A.

Wales, meanwhile, will now contest fifth to eighth place.

READ MORE: Fiji's wonderful gesture as Ireland players wipe away tears on pitch

Speaking after the game, Jones told S4C: "We believed we could win, but when you have 60% scrums, 60% line-out and get 10 linebreaks and get into the 22 in the first 20 minutes four times and you only convert once, you make it pretty hard for yourselves.

"We clearly needed to get out of the blocks well today early, get some positive mentality to our performance, but unfortunately we were inaccurate early on and when you let France off the hook, they've got players that can punish you.

"We had a lot of overlaps but didn't nail our passing and were very inaccurate in our finishing. We created an awful lot, which is positive and credit to the lads for that.

"But top-level sport is about taking your opportunities, not creating them and we're really disappointed with that."

Eddie Jones' World Cup plan

Eddie Jones says he is making changes to the way his Australian side play ahead of the World Cup.

The Wallabies are in the same tournament pool as Wales out in France, with the two sides battling it out with Fiji to get out of the group.

Jones believes the Wallabies need to get back to playing the brand of "Australian rugby" - a running, attacking style of the game. The head coach hailed the athleticism of his players which will allow him to achieve this transformation.

"Tell you what they've got power, I've never seen such powerful athletes,' he told The Good, The Bad & The Rugby Australia podcast.

"Taniela (Tupou), Pone (Fa'amausili, prop) is pretty powerful for 10 minutes, he'll get better ... (Samu) Kerevi, (Marika) Koroibete, (Suliasi) Vunivalu - it's a big, powerful team.

"But the big thing is to work together. If you look at Australia over the last period of time how many games they've lost closely, that's generally about how hard you fight for each other. It's very rarely a tactical thing."

He added: "When you're Australian coaching your own country is always the best thing, and Australia hasn't done well over the last period of time, so when there was an opportunity to maybe try and help, trying to get rugby back on the front page so to speak, it was too good of an opportunity not to do.

"Tactically we need to shift, I think (as well). We've probably been a copycat of New Zealand for a while, and we need to get back to playing Australian rugby.

"Which I think is a bit more innovative, off-the-cuff. You look at the State of Origin last night, and most of the tries came from instinctive play from the Queensland players.

"And I think that's always been the power of Australian rugby. Whilst you need to have some structure, you need to allow the players to do that (play instinctively). So we'll be able to play a big power game, but a fast game, as well."

Tributes to Oliver

Tributes continue to roll in for Greig Oliver who died in a tragic accident.

The former Scotland scrum-half died at the age of 58 in a paragliding incident in Cape Town.

He held the role of elite performance officer with Munster and was in the country with family supporting his son Jack in the World Rugby Under-20 Championship. Prior to the match yesterday, Fiji had presented Ireland with a jersey as a mark of respect to Oliver.

Munster's Peter O'Mahony and Conor Murray have led the tributes to the coach, who had been with the province since 2011.

In a social media tribute O'Mahony: "A great man. Terribly sad news."

Murray added: "Learned so much from this man. A true gent. RIP Greig."

Munster youngster Craig Casey paid a lengthy tribute to the man. He said: "One of a kind. To say I owe this man a lot is an understatement.

"Since I was 15 he's taken me under his wing as a scrum-half and treated me like a rugby son. I've learnt a hell of a lot about rugby and life from him and being in his company was always unbelievable even when you couldn't understand a word he was saying!

"Being able to have conversations with him is something I'll forever be grateful for. Thanks for everything and rest easy Greig. Legend."

Garry Ringrose went on to say: "His passing puts everything into perspective. He's someone I dealt with in the past in underage and he was a huge help to me.

"I know most people that are in an Ireland jersey at the moment would say the same thing. Everyone is shocked and saddened.

"My thoughts are with his young lad over in South Africa at the moment and, of course, the rest of his family.

"It's just tragic and upsetting to hear. All of my thoughts, and everyone else's thoughts and prayers are with his family."

Baby Blacks fail to make last four

New Zealand's under-20s have failed to make the last four of the competition, despite a 62-19 victory in their last pool play fixture against Japan.

Three tries from Crusaders winger Macca Springer set New Zealand on their way to securing a convincing win, but it wasn't enough to secure a semi-finals berth due to a points differential on the back of a 35-14 defeat to France last week.

The semi-finals will subsequently be contested by France, Ireland, England and South Africa.

London Irish duo join Leicester

Leicester have completed the signing of London Irish duo Matt Rogerson and Joe Powell.

The pair were left without a club when Irish went into administration last month, with the club suspended from all competitions by the Rugby Football Union.

Back-row forward Rogerson made more than 100 appearances for club, and was captain over the last two seasons.

"He is a tried and tested player in the Premiership and adds important depth and competition to our back-row ranks," Leicester head coach Dan McKellar told Tigers' website.

"You don't play a century of games in this league without a certain level of toughness and commitment, as well as plenty of talent, and Matt has shown that over a number of years now.

"His class and character has shone through in recent times, when captain of London Irish, to lead his playing group through such a tumultuous period, and it is that type of person we want representing Leicester Tigers."

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