The IRB Under 20 Championship gets underway on Tuesday the 4th of June. Darry Worthington takes a look at the tournament and who is likely to win it, below.
There is a plethora of rugby action on the go this year, and while the pick of the international tournament’s will undoubtedly be the IRB World Cup there will also be some great entertainment and punting value available at this year’s IRB Under 20 Championship which will get underway on Tuesday the 4th of June.
The tournament threw up a massive shock last year when outsiders France took the title on home soil. Will we see another shock this year or will giants of the Under 20’s game like New Zealand and England dominate as they have in previous instalments of the tournament?
IRB Under 20 Championship
Tuesday 4 June – Saturday 22 June
Argentina
To Win Tournament Outright
Pools
Pool A: Argentina, Fiji, France and Wales
Pool B: England, Ireland, Italy and Australia
Pool C: South Africa, New Zealand, Georgia and Scotland
Tournament Format
There will be three sets of round-robin phase fixtures with each side squaring off with their three pool opponents. The tournament will then move onto two rounds of play-off fixtures with the semi-finals incorporated into this round. The semi-finalist will consist of the three teams who top their respective pools as well as the best-placed runner-up from across the three pools. The final set of play-off games will consist of the relegation play-off – 11th versus 12th play-off – as well as the third-place play-off and the final.
Sides are awarded four points for a win during the round-robin phase and will receive a try-scoring bonus point for scoring four tries or more in a game, while sides are awarded losing bonus points for losing a game by seven points or less.
There will be two stadiums used for the tournament, namely the Racecourse Stadium and the Club De Rugby Ateneo Inmaculada which are both situated in picturesque Santa Fe.
Challengers
New Zealand
2018 Finish: Fourth
The six-time champions will be looking to bounce back from their disappointing 2018 campaign which saw them go down 7-16 to France in the semi-finals and then lose the Third Place play-off 30-40 to South Africa.
The Baby Blacks will take a very inexperienced squad with them to this year’s Championship with on captain Tom Christie having been involved at last year’s event if France.
While the New Zealanders will be rather green, they have produced some impressive rugby this term beating Fiji 53-7 and Japan 87-12 at the Oceania under 20 Championship. They did suffer an embarrassing defeat to Australia in the aforementioned tournament going down 24-0 to the hosts and eventual champions.
England
2018 Finish: Runners-Up
Three-time champions England will be looking to go one better than they did in 2017 and 2018 and lift the Under 20 Championship trophy for the first time since 2016. The English have become perpetual bridesmaids finishing the last two tournaments as runners-up.
They have one of the more experienced squads with eight players having turned out in France last year. They will be without the services of mecurial Harlequins pivot Marcus Smith who was originally named in the squad but will miss out as he has been called up to the England XV to take on the Barbarians on Sunday the 2nd of June.
The English juniors haven’t enjoyed the best of years having finished the Under 20 Six Nations in third-place following defeats to Wales and Ireland. They have seemingly bounced back from their dismal Six Nations campaign, however, as they registered an impressive 35-8 victory over South Africa in April.
South Africa
2018 Finish: Third
The Baby Boks will take a moderately experienced squad to Argentina with four players who turned out in France set to return for the South Africans. They also secured the services of South Africa Sevens representative Angelo Davids.
South Africa have endured some lean times at junior level in recent year’s last making a finals appearance back in 2014, with their one and only tournament victory coming in 2012. They have been a mainstay in the semi-finals, however, finishing in at least fourth place in the last seven events.
Chean Roux’s men recently endured a hard tour of Europe where they went down to England by 27 points. They managed to bounce back from that horrid defeat by registering a 58-10 win over Georgia but then went down 33-34 to Argentina.
France
2018 Finish: Champions
The reigning champions will take a new look squad with them to Argentina with a number of their stars from last year now involved with the senior side.
The French enjoyed a solid 2019 Under 20 Six Nations tournament finishing in second with three wins from their five fixtures. Their defeats came at the hands of champions Ireland (31-29) and England (31-19).
They will be hard-pressed to retain their crown as they are a rather inexperienced bunch.
Dark Horse
Argentina
2018 Finish: SixthArgentina will be looking to make home ground advantage pay off when they welcome the world to their backyard of the 4th of June. The Argentines have been steadily improving over the years and managed a fourth-place finish in 2016 and finished sixth out in France last season.
The Pumitas have a highly experienced team for this one with seven of last year’s squad returning and two of these seven set to play their third Under 20 Championship.
They have also enjoyed a great warm-up for the tournament beating South Africa, Georgia and a Nambia XV in Paarl last month.
Tournament Verdict: Argentina
I reckon we’ll see England, New Zealand, Argentina and one of France or Ireland be the real threats at the tournament. If the Argentines can top Pool A then I would not be surprised to see them claim their first ever Under 20 Championship crown.
