2019 under 20's
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My only viewing was brief highlights in news articles but I wasn't at all surprised at the failure of this team. As others have said, poorly selected and coached. That started with the naming of the captain, and particularly VCs. The captain needed to be a player who isn't going be to be subbed, while McLeod wouldn't be in my best XV. When I saw the squad named Flanders or Tupaea were the logical choices.
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The selection and the coaching were poor, that's for sure, but I don't remember having seen a NZ U20 side with so few talents in its ranks ! How many of them will get a SR contract in the next two years ? Not many I think. The locks are a worry as their lack of size was a handicap for the whole pack. The backrow was well below par too. The midfield was poor, both in defense and in attack.
So who did well ? Though he struggled in the set scrums, Tamaiti Williams is one to watch for the future. He was very strong with ball in hand (and he is only 18). He's got time to improve his scrummaging and learn a few tricks. Funaki and Lalomilo had their moments. Kereru-Symes has good hands but does not look big enough for the upper level. Other than these, no other names spring to my mind. -
Philpott and co promoted some players from the NZSS team while ignoring some very good players who excelled at the 2018 U19 tournament, and have been playing well in club rugby.
The happiest person will be Scott Robertson who now loses the mantle of worst NZ U20 coach.
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Japan have won the World Rugby U20 Trophy, beating Portugal 35 - 34 in the final.
That means that Japan will take Scotland's place in the WR U20 Championship in 2020.
Interestingly, Japan was relegated to the WR U20 Trophy, after finishing last in the 2018 WR U20 Championship. -
@Stargazer said in 2019 under 20's:
Japan have won the World Rugby U20 Trophy, beating Portugal 35 - 34 in the final.
That means that Japan will take Scotland's place in the WR U20 Championship in 2020.
Interestingly, Japan was relegated to the WR U20 Trophy, after finishing last in the 2018 WR U20 Championship.I saw a bit of Portugal on Youtube livestreams during breakfast times over the last week, they were really impressive. Shame they missed out on promotion.
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I see that for next year's U20 championship. NZ are drawn in the same group as 2 x defending champions France. The rightful reward for coming 7th is a crap seeding.
3 groups of 4. So, 1 in 3 chance that second pool progresses to top 4. But more unlikely if drawn in a tough pool.
A pool of:
- France
- Wales
- New Zealand
- Japan
Order of matches for NZ is:
NZ v Wales
NZ v France
NZ v JapanNo easing into it with a soft one v Japan first up ....
Although, with youth rugby, there is no guarantee that one team is strong from year to year.
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@Bovidae said in 2019 under 20's:
@Rapido WR needs to rethink the format and have 4 groups (of 3 or 4 teams). This year NZ was in the same pool as SA while Pool C had England, Aust and Ireland. Aussie made the final out of that pool of death.
The format doesn't bother me. I don't care if the second best team in one pool who progresses to the top 4 is slightly worse that the second team in another pool, who didn't. We are talking about teams who couldn't win their pool.
Never groups of 3. That brings in the short turnarounds ....
However, I am for changing the format. A 16 team JWC and an 8 JWT. As that is 24 teams getting quality youth rugby each year. As a means to the end of increasing the RWC from 20 teams so we can get away from pools of 5 and short turnarounds.
I'd like WR to focus on restructuing (increasing the size) the annual youth tournaments. But whether that is as I suggest above, or as a 12 team JWC and a 12 JWT - I don't really mind.
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@Rapido I wonder where they get that info from? Nothing has been announced by World Rugby about the 2020 WR U20 Championship, other than a confirmation of its location (Italy). The website of the Italian Rugby Federation also doesn't mention anything. Most of the info on that Wikipedia page has been created on 23 June 2019, that's one day after the 2019 final. Seems a bit strange.
Edit: the Schedule of the 2019 tournament was only announced in March 2019.
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@Stargazer said in 2019 under 20's:
@Rapido I wonder where they get that info from? Nothing has been announced by World Rugby about the 2020 WR U20 Championship, other than a confirmation of its location (Italy). The website of the Italian Rugby Federation also doesn't mention anything. Most of the info on that Wikipedia page has been created on 23 June 2019, that's one day after the 2019 final. Seems a bit strange.
Edit: the Schedule of the 2019 tournament was only announced in March 2019.
Right, probably the ordering of the schedule is just the order someone has entered it on the page. My mistake.
The pools, I assume the wiki anorak has taken the 1 to 12 seedings and put in groups as per how they have been grouped in previous editions. So, probably accurate.
2020 World Rugby Under 20 Championship - Wikipedia