Italy leads the way in both series after yesterday’s play. The Italian Schools team has 69 VPs out of 75 after three matches, giving them a narrow lead over Israel, on 67, Latvia on 65 and Poland on 62. Yesterday, Italy had a perfect day, scoring 25 against both Austria and Turkey.
It was tight at the top after the first of yesterday’s two matches in the Juniors, but then leaders Italy beat second-placed England 24-6 in the second match and now lead on 245.5 to new chasers, Norway’s 235 and England’s 223. Next come Poland on 217, France on 213 and Hungary on 211.5. You will notice that all but one of Europe’s teams for Sydney are in contention once again. The exception is Israel, who had such a terrible start to this Championship. But the Israelis are clawing their way back into contention. Yesterday they drew with Italy then scored a maximum against Scotland to move up to tenth position. Norway were the top scorers on the day, getting 21 against old rivals Sweden then 25 against Lithuania.