TRC U20 2026

@Mauss said in TRC U20 2026:

Junior Wallabies are missing quite a few key players:

A long list:

Unavailable for selection
Dylan Bretton - (Brumbies, injury)
Oscar Cleary - (Brumbies, injury)
Felix Cooper - (Force, injury)
Manaia Te Tana (Force, injury)
Bennett Armistead (Reds, injury)
John Grenfell - (Reds, injury)
Kingsley Uys - (Reds, injury)
Nicholas Conway - (Reds, injury)
Treyvon Pritchard - (Reds, SRP commitments)
Dylan Simmons (Waratahs, injury)
Ed Kasprowicz (Waratahs, injury)
Tom Farr-Jones (Waratahs, injury)
Wallace Charlie (AU Sevens)

Looking at the Australian and NZ teams named, I'd say the Junior Wallabies are still (relatively comfortable) favourites. There's good players in the NZ U20 team but I remain unconvinced about the tight 5 (very workmanlike but that's about it) and the backline combinations (I'm yet to see the 'midfielders on the wing'-experiment work).

I mentioned previously that the Wiseman-Lewai combo looked very good in the Chiefs trial, but they didn't play against the Blues U20s. Yeah, like the NZ Schools teams the coaches stack the backline with midfield backs on the wing. Pahulu and Guerin will still be eligible for at least 2027 so could both be two years in the NZS and U20s.

I haven't seen any mention on who the extra player in the squad is.

Hello, does anyone have a link to watch the match live?

@Mamuka said in TRC U20 2026:

Hello, does anyone have a link to watch the match live?

It's on Stan Sport in Aus

This is up there with the worst NZ U20 side i've ever seen. They are small, weak and poorly disciplined in defence.

Aus running through these guys

Aus first five looks very very good

As flagged on here as an issue - Pahulu looks completely lost on the wing

The aus first five just stopped a maul. What is going on?

@Tanifulla said in TRC U20 2026:

The aus first five just stopped a maul. What is going on?

This is men against boys is what is going on.

24-12 halftime to Aus.

Our tight 5 look pretty ineffective in their work around the field. Both props seem to be overpowered by their opposites.

Is this the best we have to offer or were there a fair few questionable selections?

Aus 11 going to have nightmares about nz 15

NZ blindside has been the pick of the NZ forwards for me.

Nz get skinned with one player extra. Far out

@Fale009 said in TRC U20 2026:

NZ blindside has been the pick of the NZ forwards for me.

Agreed. Has a bit of presence.

Pahulu rightly hooked. He cannot tackle.

Its worrying that whenever Australia get the ball they're able to find space out wide with 14 men.

Aus down to 13 men

Aus 29 NZ 24

NZ take advantage of a charge down and breakout for a length of the field try

Sinton at 9 is impressive.

29 all

Micah Fale dropped a bit of weight? Doesn't look as big as he did last year.

A lot of luck involved in those two tries against 13 men.

Mulaina isn't much of a kicker

Well done Logan Williams to make most of the luck and breakout to score a try

34-29 NZ

Woeful kick by Guerin

Australia 10 has a lot of Larkham-ish qualities to his game.

No TMO check for tip tackle.

TMO check for knock on at ruck.

Right.

Australia TH has been destructive all game and still going strong after 75+ mins.

Best passage of defence there by NZ

Some of these bench players are a big improvement on their starting counterparts

NZ win 34-29

What an odd game.

9 times out of 10 Aus win that game.

Fun watch though.

Lucky to win that one. Think Australia dominated most of the game and looked more threatening whenever they had the ball. NZ made the most of the period where they had a 2 man advantage and that was the difference in the end.

Australia were clearly the better team, and should have won it easily. Ill discipline cost them the game. They will be kicking themselves for losing to this poor NZ side.

NZ have probably used up all of their luck in this game. So many missed first-up tackles in the 1st half especially.

Now that they've played a game we should expect to see improvement against Arg.

Did Stan show the post-match interviews? If so, I wonder what both captains had to say?

@Bovidae I don't believe so

How did the players rate for NZ?

@Mr-Fish said in TRC U20 2026:

How did the players rate for NZ?

The 3 standout starters I thought were 6 Finn Mcleod, 9 Sinton and 15 Norrie.

Muliaina was outshone by his opposite but he was tidy - good kicking out of his own half and good decision making.

The bench was good and impactful - bench forwards had more presence, Reihana and Williams definitely showed something too.

Makata, the reserve hooker, never came on. Injured?

@KiwiMurph said in TRC U20 2026:

Pahulu rightly hooked. He cannot tackle.

Is this the guy who missed basically every attempt he had?

I only saw the highlights, but the Aussie team just looked like they have 1) more size, 2) better basic skills (e.g., passing in front of the man), and 3) better individual tackling technique (1& 3 go together a bit).

They look better coached too and their 10 was a much more finished product that Muliaina. I think they were very unlucky to lose that with 3 tries disallowed and a RC?

If that's the best we have, yikes.

Pahulu had a shocker but he wasn't alone in missing simple tackles.

I'm not sure why Lewai was subbed to move Guerin into centre. Muliaina's goal kicking wasn't great.