The 2024 Under 20 Championship gets underway in Cape Town this weekend with the stars of tomorrow looking to impress in South Africa. Darry Worthington looks ahead to the competition.
France has dominated the tournament in recent years with Les Bleus’s young guns winning the last three tournaments in succession.
Will the French continue to dominate the world stage at junior level or will another set of youngsters claim the trophy? Darry Worthington previews the tournament below and gives his verdict on who he thinks will take the title.
Pool A
France 7/2 | New Zealand 7/2 | Spain 500/1 | Wales 100/1
Pool A is a rather interesting one with title holders France paired against the most successful team in the history of the competition New Zealand. Also in the Pool are an up-and-coming Spanish side and a Wales team who went alright at times in the U20 Six Nations tournament.
Les Bleus, as noted in the introduction, have been the dominant force in the tournament of late with the French winning the last three Championships on the trot. They head into this one off the back of a rather poor Six Nations campaign, however, in which they finished third with only two wins. The victories came over Wales, who finished second-bottom, and Scotland, who finished the campaign at the foot of the table.
The French’s main challenge for top spot in Pool A will undoubtedly come from the Junior Kiwis. Traditionally, they have been the strongest side in the competition having won six Championships. They have had a couple of lean years, however, and have failed to make a final since 2017. They’ve had a good build-up to the tournament though, winning the inaugural Under 20 Rugby Championship in which they drew 13-13 with South Africa, beat Australia 25-36 and Argentina 43-20. They look a decent unit this year and they may well be able to upset the French.
Onto our final two sides and Wales will likely be looking to steal one of the best third-placed finishers spots, while for Spain this will likely be more about the experience than anything else with the men from the Iberian Peninsula likely to be duking it out for the minor tournament positions.
The young Dragons struggled against the big guns in the Under 20 Six Nations but managed to claim two wins beating Italy 27-15 and Scotland 37-29. They do look something of a limited side but in the past have caused a couple big upsets so punters beware.
Spain are more of an enigma than the other sides in the comp as they do not play as much rugby. They did have a great Under 20 Trophy campaign, however, winning the tournament that featured the likes of Uruguay and Scotland. While they did perform well in the second tier, one suspects they will struggle against the big guns.
Pool B
Australia 20/1 | Georgia 50/1 | Ireland 3/1 | Italy 100/1
Moving over to Pool B, this is another tasty group with a solid Australian outfit pooled alongside Ireland, and ever-improving Georgian and Italian teams.
The Aussies have some very talented young players among their ranks including fly-half Harry McLaughlin-Phillips, who made several appearances for the Reds during the recently concluded Super Rugby Pacific campaign, The Junior Wallabies also performed well during the inaugural Under 20 Rugby Championship campaign finishing as second by claiming wins over South Africa and Argentina.
The other two sides likely to launch an assault on the quarter-finals are Ireland and Georgia. Both sides have vastly improved at junior level with Georgia beating England for the second year running in a warm-up match, while Ireland enjoyed a fantastic Junior Six Nations, finishing second on the table with only points differential separating them and winners England. They also finished as runners-up at last year’s Junior Championship.
The Azzurri are another side that has improved in recent years and they finished last year’s edition of the tournament in ninth place but finished the two tournament’s prior in eighth. They do face stiff competition in this pool, however, so they are likely to be battling it out for the minor places.
Pool C
Argentina 33/1 | England 33/10 | Fiji 250/1 | South Africa 4/1
Our final Pool is set to be the most competitive of the three with tournament hosts South Africa taking on multiple winners England and a progressive Argentine outfit as well as a Fijian side who ran a couple of the big guns close last year.
The South Africans once again have hosting rights and they’ll be looking for a far better showing here than they had last year. The young Boks just managed to sneak into the quarter-finals at last year’s tournament due to a rather controversial ruling that saw Georgia knocked out instead of them despite having a better points differential to the hosts. The South Africans did show some promise in the U20 Rugby Championship beating Argentina while drawing with winners New Zealand and losing to Australia.
Los Pumas Juniors are the other southern hemisphere side in Pool C. They had a far less impressive inaugural U20 Rugby Championship than their South African counterparts, losing all three of their fixtures. They do tend to get up for Junior Championships, however, dazzling on attack, although their defence often leaves a lot to be desired.
Three-time winners England will be looking to add more silverware to their cupboard having already won this year’s Junior Six Nations. They are a very tidy side and tend to be in the mix come semi-finals time having finished last year’s tournament in fourth and the 2018 edition as runners-up. They have a solid forward pack who will be looking to mix it with the big boys from the southern hemisphere.
The final team in the pool are the Fijians. They were a breath of fresh air at last year’s tournament as they gave some big guns, including Australia, some real frights. They have lost some of their standout players from last year’s squad and I suspect they will be slightly weaker than last year’s vintage.
Verdict: South Africa 4/1
I’m backing the Baby Boks to get the business done on home soil. They looked decent in the inaugural U20 Rugby Championship and I suspect they will be better having had more time to build towards this competition.
