Details confirmed for inaugural The Rugby Championship U20 tournament
The Rugby Championship enters a new era in 2024 with the addition of a U20s tournament featuring teams from all four southern rugby giants.
The competition has been introduced following the growing dominance of northern hemisphere nations at the age grade level. France are not only the reigning world U20 champions but currently enjoy a three-peat streak of world titles with the chance to make that four when the 2024 World Rugby U20 Championship kicks off in South Africa on June 29.
SANZAAR on Wednesday confirmed The Rugby Championship U20 tournament will be held 47 days before the world championship and take place on Australia’s Sunshine Coast.
Like The Rugby Championship, the competition will feature southern hemisphere heavyweights Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, with three rounds of competition seeing the teams each play each other once.
The games will be played at the Sunshine Coast Stadium and will see the teams bid for the title of inaugural TRC U20 champions.
“The TRC U20 Championship is an exciting investment and development strategy that will allow for a more defined pathway for younger players into senior and international rugby and provide a springboard into the annual World Rugby U20 Championship that is currently missing,” said SANZAAR CEO Brendan Morris.
“This exposure to international matches against top-quality opposition can only benefit the players in terms of experience and adapting to the demands of top-level rugby. The tournament will also provide extra development opportunities for coaches, team management and match officials.
“The teams will assemble on The Sunshine Coast for three match rounds in May and for rugby fans we are pleased to announce that entry into the tournament at Sunshine Coast Stadium will be free of charge.
“SANZAAR is very much looking forward to what will be a highly competitive tournament and on behalf of SANZAAR I would like to thank the Sunshine Coast Council for its assistance in supporting this wonderful new tournament.”
The Rugby Championship U20 2024 schedule
Thursday, May 2
- New Zealand vs South Africa, 17:00
- Australia vs Argentina, 19:00
Tuesday, May 7
- New Zealand vs Argentina, 17:00
- Australia vs South Africa, 19:00
Sunday, May 12
- South Africa vs Argentina, 13:30
- Australia vs New Zealand, 15:30
The final round of the round-robin competition will see a preview of a Pool C contest at the World Rugby U20 Championship, as South Africa and Argentina have been drawn there alongside the 2024 U20 Six Nations champions England, as well as Fiji.
New Zealand have been drawn in Pool A with reigning world champions France along with Spain and Wales.
Australia are set to face Ireland, Georgia and Italy in Pool B.
Comments on RugbyPass
ABs lost against a side playing without a hooker - The guy playing, had one shoulder. Line outs were a gimme for the ABs, and the last 8 minutes 14 played 14 against a team that had been smashed 3 weeks in a row… Yet with all that possession, with all that territory, with all the advantages they actually had, especially in the last 8 minutes, they couldn’t buy a point. Those last 8 minutes determined if they outplayed the Boks or not. History will show that the Boks completely outplayed the ABs, especially in those last 8 minutes, the business end of any rugby match
225 Go to commentsWould’ve, could’ve, should’ve, didn’t.
225 Go to commentsKok will become a fan favourite
1 Go to commentsI am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
16 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
16 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
84 Go to comments