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‘All to play for’: New Zealand U20s tracking well ahead of must-win clash

Malachi Wrampling-Alec of New Zealand crosses the line to score a try during The Rugby Championship U20 Round 2 match between New Zealand and Argentina at Sunshine Coast Stadium on May 07, 2024 in Sunshine Coast, Australia. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)

Assistant coach Jarrad Hoeata is looking forward to the New Zealand U20s’ must-win clash with a “pretty sharp” Australia U20s outfit as both teams look to potentially wrap up the title at Sunshine Coast Stadium this weekend.

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Playing in the inaugural Rugby Championship U20 in the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane, the Baby Blacks bounced back from an opening round 13-all draw with South Africa with a statement 43-20 win over Argentina.

Los Pumitas had won their previous match against tournament hosts Australia in torrential conditions, but the Kiwis’ red-hot start on Tuesday from quite literally the opening minute ensured the Argies wouldn’t go back-to-back.

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Halfback Dylan Pledger scored about 70 seconds into the contest, and another two first-half tries laid the foundation for a decisive New Zealand win. Argentina may have squandered some opportunities but it was almost always one-way traffic.

For the New Zealand forwards coach, who had been joined in camp by All Blacks assistant coaches Jason Ryan and Leon MacDonald on the Sunshine Coast, Jarrad Hoeata couldn’t have asked for much better “against a pretty big Puma pack.”

“It was a great response,” Hoeata told RugbyPass.

“Obviously the conditions in that first game were pretty horrific. They weren’t a hell of a lot better for the second game but they were good enough for us to express ourselves and show some skills.

“It was probably the all round game. Our set-piece got going so that was really a massive positive, especially being a forwards coach.

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“Our carry and clean work was really good and then the boy just attacking and finding space out wide to finish was very pleasing.

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“Our scrum struggled but we managed to find some solutions there,” he added. “The lineout defence was awesome so I was really proud of the boys, disrupted most of their lineout.”

With one draw and a win to their name, the Baby Blacks can wrap up the first-ever Rugby Championship U20 title with a win over arch-rivals the Junior Wallabies on Sunday evening.

New Zealand are two competition points in front of second-placed Argentina, while the Aussies sit in third-place. If the Baby Blacks fail to win and Los Pumitas can beat South Africa with a winning bonus point, then they will take home the massive trophy.

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The New Zealanders are clearly the form team of the tournament so far but Australia have a renewed sense of confidence about them following a hard-fought 24-19 win over the Junior Springboks on Tuesday.

“They’ve actually been pretty sharp,” Hoeata said when asked about Australia U20s.

“I know they’re pretty disappointed with their result against Argentina in the first game but if you look a little bit deeper into their game they’re a sharp outfit.

“They’re really well organised, got some good attacking strikes out wide as well. We’re expecting a pretty big battle.

“I think if they win they can take out the title as well so it’s all to play for.”

But regardless of how you look at it, the stage is set for two titanic clashes between Titans of under-20s rugby as they continue to build ahead of the World Rugby U20 Championship in South Africa from the end of next month.

South Africa U20 take on Argentina in the first of two matches on Sunday evening, while Australia host New Zealand in the later fixture. Kick-off times are 5 pm and 7 pm local time.

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J
JW 9 hours ago
New report details source of Ardie Savea's All Blacks frustrations

Yeah it’s hard to be critical of Razor but of choices in his first year of the loosies he constantly played Ardie at 8. It would seem that was always the plan and that Hoskins was surplas to requirements (7, with Dalton then Cane, as was fairly happy with but understand the calls to drop Cane for his last test, along with TJ, and 6 was shared around nicely I thought) and he didn’t have the alround game of Ardie to simply overtake him at 8 (and use Ardie elsewhere). Of course he did that exact thing next year, too late for HS. Then last year 7 was fine if though the same problem was brought about by using Ardie (always leaves a component of a back three missing) there so often stopping Dalton from getting opportunities. At 6 Parker just had one or two too many games for me but 8 was shuffled around nicely, even if I don’t know why Lakai was thought to be the key there.

Of course a lot of rotation was brought about by, you guesed it, injury, still. Now to be fair to Razor, in reality we have no idea if he had to manage Ardie this way, based on NZRs desires with his contract (we have seen them move heaven and earth to retain him), and if he benched him often whether that would have caused him to leave or not. Or even that Hoskins would have accepted a jersey unless it was with a single digit on it, and a regular pick, as he had had to work his way back to the team without a big bump in his contract (of loosing AB selection early on) of other people his standing, so he also might have still put his family and therefor more over the jersey.



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