As the teams prepare for the final round of matches at the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy 2009 in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, the excitement as it all comes to an end is very noticeable.
The high standard of matches in this Under 20 tournament and the physicality of every team meant that the final hours were spent fine-tuning and checking on player fitness.
USA, who will play Romania in the final, ended their preparation in good spirits.
"Losing against Kenya was a blessing in disguise; we learnt from our loss and we were lucky that we were able to decide our future," said USA coach Salty Thompson, before admitting that after their defence was exposed in the 33-32 defeat they worked very hard on this aspect.
"We know the Romanians are very strong, they have a good kicking fly half and we must tackle well and contest that area very strongly."
The two finalists are sharing the same hotel and so know each others size.
"We haven't had the chance to communicate much because of the language barrier," admitted USA captain Cameron Dolan. "We know they are big and have seen them play. We know it is a huge battle but the team is ready."
The last day of this already successful Junior World Rugby Trophy will get underway with two matches at 11:30 local time (08:30 GMT), including the seventh place play-off between Cayman Islands and Korea at Impala.
Korea coach Moon Young Chan expects his team to be able to "run the ball as we have had in the tournament. Our defence let us down in previous matches but we hope that will be ready for the Cayman Islands. Finishing fifth was our goal coming into the tournament, now we must ensure seventh place."
Self belief key for Omae
On the adjoining pitch at the RFUEA Ground, Papua New Guinea and Namibia will battle for fifth place.
"We are the minnows in this tournament," said Robin Tarere, the Papua New Guinea coach and former Test player who played at the Hong Kong Sevens against Namibia's assistant coach Eden Meyer in the early 1990s.
"This is our first time at this stage and we have learnt a lot. We will give the Namibians a run for their money; we will play with our natural game style of running with the ball in hand."
The third place play-off at 13:30 will pitch the noisily supported home team against Chile with both teams desperate to take that place after narrowly missing out on a place in the final.
The Kenyan Chipu came painstakingly close to securing a place in the final - missing out when David Tamielau scored USA's bonus point try five minutes from time - and the way they have played promises a high quality match.
Chile, runners up in the inaugural tournament on home soil in 2008, lost their Pool B decider 26-20 to Romania to miss out on the final but have proven themselves to be a hard team with uncompromising forwards and backs that can defend.
The question could lie on the speed of five-try hero Collins Omae, the Kenya Harlequins wing having told local newspaper The Standard that "what separates me from other wingers is the self belief I have; you can be one of the fastest people on earth but if you don't believe in yourself you will not achieve anything. So I just pray for confidence and do my best when I get on the pitch."
