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Five all-time great U20 sides that were littered with future superstars
The World Rugby Under 20 Championships will be held for the first time since 2019 in South Africa from June 23 until July 14.
The Premier world age group tournament is often a glimpse of the future. France are the defending champions from four years ago and their seniors are favourites to hoist the William Webb Ellis trophy in a few months’ time. The history of the tournament is littered with great sides. Here are five of the best.
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2008: Blackout at Inaugural Championships
Previous incarnations of the World Junior Rugby championships comprised the Under 17, 19, and 21 age groups. In 2008 the tournament reverted to its present format.
The Baby Blacks conceded just one try in their five victories over Tonga (48-9), Ireland (65-10), Argentina (60-0), and Wales (31-6 in the semi-final) before the 38-3 final triumph over England at Liberty Stadium in Swansea.
The championship-winning side was guided by co-coaches Dave Rennie and Russell Hilton-Jones. Daniel Kirkpatrick was named player of the final. He went on to play Super Rugby for the Hurricanes and the Blues before a long stint in France. Ryan Crotty (who scored a try in the final), Zac Guildford, Sam Whitelock, and Aaron Smith became All Blacks. Luke Braid was named World young player of the Year.
2011: The Greatest Ever?
The New Zealand roster in 2011 was ridiculous. Codie Taylor, Dominic Bird, Luke Whitelock, Brodie Retallick, Sam Cane, Steven Luatua, Beauden Barrett, Brad Weber, Charles Piutau, Lima Sopoaga, Francis Saili, TJ Perenara, and Waisake Naholo all became All Blacks.
Whitelock was the captain of the side that beat England 33-22 in the final.
England, by way of comparison, had George Ford, Owen Farrell, and Elliot Daly in their backline as well as Mako Vunipola, Christian Wade, Marland Yarde, Joe Launchbury, Sam Kvesic, and Sam Jones in their roster.
Ironically Brad Shields, a New Zealand squad member, went on to play for England. Ben Tameifuna (Tonga) and Gareth Anscombe (Wales) were also internationals.
New Zealand’s biggest win of the tourney was 92-0 against Wales and they beat Australia 37-7 in the semis.
The margin of victory eclipsed the 62-17 hiding of Australia in the 2010 final. In that match Tyler Bleyendaal scored 28 points, and Telusa Veainu three tries.
2012: South Africa Stops New Zealand Juggernaut
There were already signs New Zealand’s reign of dominance was potentially ending when Wales ended their 21match winning streak in pool play. However, hosts South Africa were also upset by Ireland in pool play and had to beat England to guarantee a place in the semis, which they duly did 28-15.
The Junior Springboks really found their stride in the semis crushing Argentina 35-7, but New Zealand was resurgent avenging their loss to Wales 30-6.
A crowd of 33,210 turned up at Newlands to watch a tense and spiteful encounter which saw future French international Paul Willemse and All Black Ofa Tu’ungafasi sent off in the 58th minute after hair-tugging was met with a retaliatory punch.
South Africa was more composed and tries from halfback Vian van der Watt and center Jan Serfontein to go with the dozen points kicked Handre Pollard secured the title. Serfontein was the player of the tournament and went on to play 35 tests.
Dillyn Leyds, Raymond Rhule, Steven Kitshoff, and Pieter-Steph du Toit were later Springboks with Kitshoff and du Toit joining Pollard as senior World Cup winners in 2019.
2014: England Conquer Eden Park
England was unquestionably the best age group team in the world between 2013 and 2016 winning three World titles with a 17-3 record and capturing the Six Nations in 2013 and 2015.
England was largely unchallenged en route to the 2014 final in New Zealand defeating Italy (63-3), Australia (38-24), Argentina (17-16), and Ireland (42-15). In the Pumas match, England never trailed.
South Africa represented a formidable challenge in the final at Eden Park. With a beefy pack and Handre Pollard, they’d twice beaten New Zealand. England took charge of the game with 18 points in 15 minutes either side of the interval, but they were hanging on in the final quarter, fortunate that for the second time in the match, Pollard was less than a metre wide with a drop goal attempt.
England played an attractive brand of footy but could lean on their scrum, defense, and maul when required. England was led superbly by lock Maro Itoje, twice a British and Irish Lions selection. Centre Nick Tompkins and flanker Ross Moriarty later played for Wales, and Callum Braley played for Italy.
2018: France Set Up Bright Future
When Fabien Galthié named his squad for the 2020 Six Nations he included seven players from France’s World U20 Championship-winning sides of 2018 and 2019. By 2021 nine players from those teams had been capped at senior level – Demba Bamba, Pierre-Louis Barassi, Louis Carbonel, Kilian Geraci, Jean-Baptiste Gros, Romain Ntamack, Arthur Vincent, Cameron Woki and Hassane Kolingar.
The 2018 tournament was staged in France and the hosts topped their pool after a narrow 26-24 victory against Ireland with two tries by Maxime Marty (Carcassonne) the difference. France was ruthless against a rudderless New Zealand in the semis leading 16-0 before conceding a late converted try. The final against England was a penalty-stricken affair but 23 points from the boot of Carbonel and tries to Woki and Adrien Seguret (Castres) got the job done 33-25.
Comments on RugbyPass
This sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
12 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
77 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
12 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
12 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
12 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
12 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
12 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
44 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
2 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
3 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to comments