The final 16-team standings at the World Rugby Junior World Championship

The battle for the minor placings at the World Rugby Junior World Championship 2026 has been finalised after five rounds of competition on Friday and Saturday in Georgia, bringing the curtain down after three weeks of action.

South Africa retained their crown with a tight 16-5 win over France while New Zealand snatched third place with a 39-26 victory over England.

Jake Dalziel converted tries from Joe Roberts, Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, Henry Kesterton and Dan Kelly as Scotland edged out Wales 28-21 in a game of two yellow cards each in the fifth-place play-off. Jac Pritchard, Lewis Edwards and Will Evans touched down for the Welsh.

Tom Farr-Jones and John Greenfell both scored a brace as Australia ran in eight tries, six of them converted by Charlie Bird, in their convincing 52-29 defeat of Argentina in the seventh-place play-off.

Ireland finished in ninth place after tries from Duinn Maguire, Charlie O’Shea, Sean David Walsh, Charlie Molony and Josh Neill saw them overcome Italy 34-26. Enoch Opoku-Gyamfi, Erik Meroi and Luca De Novellis scored tries in reply.

Isoa Koroinawai, Sevuloni Rakoto Sauleirogo Satala, Marika Koroi and Savenaca Durusolo Vagadai all scored tries as Fiji survived three yellow cards to beat Georgia 30-10, with Leonide Saldadze and Mikheli Shioshili scoring in the 11th-place play-off.

Spain had five players sin-binned in their 34-26 defeat to Japan, who had two players yellow-carded in the 13th-place play-off, which was clinched with tries in the last ten minutes from Masato Hyakutake and Kouaku Suda.

Uruguay’s Sebastien Perez scored a hat-trick, but tries from Aidan Stewart, Liam Hill, Papaseea Matelau, Oliver Kirk and Harrison Cluff handed the USA a 39-15 victory in the 15th-place play-off.

Final Placings

1 – South Africa
2 – France
3 – New Zealand
4 – England
5 – Scotland
6 – Wales
7 – Australia
8 – Argentina
9 – Ireland
10 – Italy
11 – Fiji
12 – Georgia
13 – Japan
14 – Spain
15 – USA
16 – Uruguay