@grant said in WR U20 Championship 2026:
Must say the tournament thus far - these new maul rules are going to kill the game - every game seems to be decided by teams just mauling for tries and not sure if that is healthy for the game. Reality is now, if you get lineout 5 metres from the tryline, just about a guaranteed try.
U20s catching up on BrumbieBall.
@grant said in WR U20 Championship 2026:
Reality is now, if you get lineout 5 metres from the tryline, just about a guaranteed try.
yep
the best way to stop the 5 metre lineout-maul try now is before it even starts
compete at the actual line-out, try for possession, or at the very least mess up the other teams maul set-up
hate it when defending teams dont compete at the lineout in that situation
@Steven-Harris said in WR U20 Championship 2026:
Ok I get that but when it gets to pointy ends at big tournaments your scrum and lineout maul defence is everything
i get it too
but if you want to play that high tempo game you still have to have a competitive set piece
to easy for the other team to prevent you playing that way if you dont
if the other team are dominant at set piece, they are the ones who will decide how the game is to be played
and your set piece does not have to be dominant
just good enough to secure your own put ins, throw wins, and jam a 5 metre maul
achieve that, and it's game on
otherwise you may as well phone in the forfeit when you are at the pointy end
@mohikamo said in WR U20 Championship 2026:
the best way to stop the 5 metre lineout-maul try now is before it even starts
compete at the actual line-out, try for possession, or at the very least mess up the other teams maul set-up
hate it when defending teams dont compete at the lineout in that situation
Agree 100%, especially now when the hooker needs to throw straight if you compete. Stop the lineout at the source.
@W32 said in WR U20 Championship 2026:
England player sees red in today’s match
Thanks for posting.
What an idiot. Reminiscent of the Eyetie.
Think NZ U20's are going to have their hands full vs England - who until they lost their 7 to a RC, were I thought physically dominating the Boks - they have some massive units in their pack.
Some of the Kiwi players look physically underdeveloped vs some of the units in the European teams - see how clealy the likes of the Top 14/English Premiership sides develop their players skill-wise(in the pack) and physically.
@Kiwidom said in WR U20 Championship 2026:
Will they roll out their strongest team again or give some players who haven't played much a game . There's two or three players who haven't featured at all so far
Would love to see Hughan be given a fair run, haven't been impressed by Sinton personally.
@WoodysRFC Doesn't seem to have much of a running game
Junior Springboks: 15 Alzeadon Felix, 14 Cheswill Jooste, 13 Markus Muller, 12 Ethan Adams, 11 Khuthadzo Rasivhaga, 10 Yaqeen Ahmed, 9 Hendré Schoeman, 8 Wasi Vyambwera, 7 Luke Cannon, 6 Risima Khosa, 5 JD Hattingh, 4 Heinrich Theron, 3 Danie Kruger, 2 Siphosethu Mnebelele (captain), 1 Oliver Reid.
Replacements: 16 Liam van Wyk, 17 Rambo Kubheka, 18 Luan van der Berg, 19 Jaythen Orange, 20 Thomas Beling, 21 Gert Kemp, 22 Jayden Brits, 23 Samuel Badenhorst.
Date: Saturday, July 18
Venue: Mikheil Meskhi Stadium, Tbilisi
Kick-off: 18.30 (16.30 GMT)
Referee: Reuben Keane (Australia)
Assistant referees: George Selwood (England), Gonzalo de Achaval (Argentina)
TMO: Paulo Duarte (Portugal)
@OomPB said in WR U20 Championship 2026:
Giliomee suspended and will miss the final. Big loss.
No, not suspended:
@Kiwidom said in WR U20 Championship 2026:
Will they roll out their strongest team again or give some players who haven't played much a game . There's two or three players who haven't featured at all so far
That looks to be what is happening, to some degree. The official website has Hughan and Hewitt starting, Norrie at 1st 5, and the forgotten Jake Hutchings in the reserves.
@ARHS said in WR U20 Championship 2026:
Is Triumph Voice in the squad?
He was also selected for the NZ Schools but didn't play because of injury. Quite the career so far.
@Bovidae said in WR U20 Championship 2026:
@ARHS said in WR U20 Championship 2026:
Is Triumph Voice in the squad?
He was also selected for the NZ Schools but didn't play because of injury. Quite the career so far.
Which is why I asked. Odd? Jinxed?
Baby Boks retaining the JWC title. Lots of u19s in this team. Next year will be even better
How good is Ahmed?
Can’t see this tournament lasting much longer it must be costing world rugby a fortune and in most cases like the world 7s circuit it’s played in front of very poor crowds
Would rather money was put back into developing the pacific island region
Tonga and Samoa who have been past quarter finalists have fallen by the wayside
Throw in Canada as well
Five tries amongst the three locks. That may be a first in a while.
A decent end for NZ but they got lucky with that disallowed England try due to obstruction. In saying that NZ were held up over the goal line a couple of times.
I think I could see Triumph Voice when the players were shaking hands post-match. Maybe we'll find out why he never played in time.
@Steven-Harris said in WR U20 Championship 2026:
Would rather money was put back into developing the pacific island region
sadly, there is absolutely no commercial return for investing in the PI region
i'd say the expansion to 16 teams would have been an effort to try and get their like involved
the PIs are shooting themselves in the foot with their administrative disarray
money is already available to them, but it wont be handed over until they stop fighting & scrapping amongst themselves
the 7s circuit has been cut back, but it wont go while it is still an olympic sport
the olympics are a mega opportunity to promote the game
quite a few nations (look at the Aussies) put a lot of resources into 7s for that reason
Finn McLeod and hooker Josh Findlay had great aggressive games in the forward pack.v England
Great result for the Baby Blacks - some of these Nth Hemisphere teams have some absolute units in their teams - 140Kg plus!
Think that by coming 3rd they have done really well and if not for the implosion vs French in final minutes of game, would have been in the final - which when I look at the talent in this team is a great result, as if I look over this team vs. last two years teams - think this is the weakest.
@cgrant Future looks really bright for AB pack - say at the 2031 RWC - when you consider feeding through the likes of in the loose forwards -
Johnny Lee/Oli Mathis @ 7
Malachi Wrampling/Micah Fale @ 8
Bradley Tocker/Finn McLeod @ 6
Then throw in the likes of Eli Oudenryn, Josh Tengblad, Siale Lauaki, Lucas Casey etc - start to see a future WC pack.
Then in the backs @ 10 you have Rico Simpson, Will Cole, Mika Muliaina (still only 19) feeding through - though might have seen the next WC 10 playing First 15 Rugby yesterday in Fletcher Cooper. Commentators were talking about him in the same terms as Will Jordan and Damian McKenzie - think Y12 and he looks serious quality and he just stood out - though have to say first time I watched XV 15 game in awhile, size of some of the players!
@cgrant said in WR U20 Championship 2026:
I'd like to see a few members of this team play in NPC. Frost and Fale have the required physique for that.
Frost was named in the Ta$man squad. Canterbury have often given them players in the past (e.g., Anderson, Lee).
There are more current NZ U20 players in NPC squads than I can remember in previous years.
@cgrant said in WR U20 Championship 2026:
I'd like to see a few members of this team play in NPC. Frost and Fale have the required physique for that. I rate Finn McLeod a lot. He has all the attributes to become the future AB Nr.6 after the RWC. Findlay has a bright future too, so has Connie. I don't see many others FAB though.
Finn McLeod has a Canterbury NPC Contact
@grant said in WR U20 Championship 2026:
@cgrant Future looks really bright for AB pack - say at the 2031 RWC - when you consider feeding through the likes of in the loose forwards -
Johnny Lee/Oli Mathis @ 7
Malachi Wrampling/Micah Fale @ 8
Bradley Tocker/Finn McLeod @ 6
Then throw in the likes of Eli Oudenryn, Josh Tengblad, Siale Lauaki, Lucas Casey etc - start to see a future WC pack.
Then in the backs @ 10 you have Rico Simpson, Will Cole, Mika Muliaina (still only 19) feeding through - though might have seen the next WC 10 playing First 15 Rugby yesterday in Fletcher Cooper. Commentators were talking about him in the same terms as Will Jordan and Damian McKenzie - think Y12 and he looks serious quality and he just stood out - though have to say first time I watched XV 15 game in awhile, size of some of the players!
I think it's far too soon to be predicting career trajectories so far out. There are plenty of decent U20s players who never even make the step up to provincial level, let alone Super or international.
I didn't see much of this, but the highlights of the bronze game - our ten had an evil step on him.
@sbw1 said in WR U20 Championship 2026:
considering the towelling we have had from the poms
What towellings are these? NZ hadn't played England at this level since 2017 - where they put 64 points on them in the final - and have only lost once to them in the entire history of the competition as far as I'm aware (the 2013 JWC semi-final: Ardie Savea, Scott Barrett and Patrick Tuipulotu coming up short against a Henry Slade-led England XV).
It's only been the French who have been dishing out the thrashings (last year's lost final to SA was by no means a one-sided affair) and the one game where the NZ U20s looked really clueless was in the 2023 group game against France U20s. But that was an exceptional France team, not dissimilar to the 2017 NZ side.
