WR U20 Championship 2025
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Watched highlights of our games but not much of the other teams,
How do we look overall in comparison to other sides, are we a genuine chance to win this ?
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@kiwiinmelb South Africa and France look different gravy. NZ is likely to finish 3rd behind those two.
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@sparky Does the South African team that played in the Rugby championship have the same personnel that have rocked up for this tournament?
Been some turn around if that’s the case -
If you can, watch the last 10 mins of Italy v Georgia. Rugby drama, heroics and madness of the highest order. Georgia's captain was sent off in the 12th min, then they played with 12 players for 10 mins after 2 yellow's.
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@Steven-Harris For comparison - mostly positional changes -
Junior Springbok team to face England in Rovigo:15 Gilermo Mentoe
14 Cheswill Jooste
13 Gino Cupido
12 Albie Bester
11 Siyabonga Ndlozi
10 Vusi Moyo
9 Haashim Pead8 Wandile Mlaba
7 Bathobele Hlekani
6 Xola Nyali
5 JJ Theron
4 Riley Norton (captain)
3 Herman Lubbe
2 Siphosethu Mnebelele
1 Simphiwe NgobeseReplacements:
16 Jaundré Schoeman
17 Oliver Reid
18 Jean Erasmus
19 Jaco Grobbelaar
20 Matt Romao
21 Ceano Everson
22 Dominic Malgas
23 Jaco Williams -
At last we've seen the ABs U20 commit more players in the rucks. The backline is starting to gain some cohesion. This Irish team is very weak but the improvement was noticeable, even at scrumtime which had been a worry since then. Playing the Frenchies in the semi will be a tough, that's for sure. The latter play with a lot of confidence and they have a mercurial backline.
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Next week we will see a repeat of last year’s semi-final between the French and New Zealand U20s. It’ll be a chance for the Baby Blacks to rectify what was, by all accounts, a poor performance, losing 55 to 31 to the French in South Africa. But will they have learned from their erratic showing of 2024?
France U20: a poor match-up for the NZ U20s
Let’s get the uncomfortable truth out of the way, quickly: France are probably the worst possible match-up for the NZ U20s. While the NZ U20s are a side who love to attack (and to be fair, it’s what they’re best at), this kind of attacking mindset can produce a high-rate of turnovers. Against Italy, in their opening game of the 2025 tournament, the NZ U20s produced 17 turnovers; against Georgia, it was much of the same, with 16 turnovers lost. With the ball wet and slippery in Italy’s smouldering summer, the Kiwi attack has given their opponents plenty of opportunities. Luckily for them, however, the Georgians and Italians are rather toothless with the ball, the maul their nearly exclusive weapon of choice.France U20, on the other hand, are a completely different animal. They are a side who excel in transition and they have turned the punishing of opposition mistakes into an art. In their final game of the group stages against Argentina U20s, the French youth side gave yet another demonstration of their counter-attacking abilities, every Argentinean error and infringement being turned into 7 points. It might as well have been a big warning sign to the NZ U20s.
Here are some of these, seemingly innocuous, Argentina errors.
Argentina clear out the French player beyond the ruck. From the ensuing penalty, the French would maul before eventually going over after pick-and-go’s close to the line
In the next example, Argentina try to go wide but can’t deal with the French defensive line-speed, knocking it on. From the following scrum, the French U20s construct a line-break for their loosehead prop, which is immediately turned into points by the French backline via a Keletaona grubber.
Argentina try to attack the edge, once again, but under-resource the breakdown, leading to a pilfer to French 14, Donguy. From the kick return, the Argentina fullback, Senillosa, kicks it out on the full. Compounding errors and the French inside the Argentina 22, this would quickly lead to yet another try
From another restart, the Argentina blindside flanker flies into contact while the French kick receiver is still in the air, leading to yet another penalty. It triggers another series of attacks inside the Argentinean half, with the French backline eventually able to find the space out wide for yet another score.
Four small mistakes, all conceded in and around the middle of the park, yet quickly leading to French scores. The scoreline reads: 26 to zip in favour of the French, and the game was largely decided after 13 minutes.
Returning to the 2024 semi-final
The only question that remains is whether the Baby Blacks needed the reminder. For some, like Pledger, Simpson and Bason, much of the Argentina-France game will have looked uncomfortably similar to their own memories of last year’s semi-final. Just like it was for the Argentina U20s, every NZ U20 mistake that day was brutally exposed by a shark-like French side, the Kiwi errors acting like a drop of blood in the water.And there were more than a few drops. The Baby Blacks turned the ball over a staggering 26 times that day. Some of it was of course due to French pressure, through defensive line-speed and their attack of the breakdown. Other turnovers, however, were more akin to self-sabotage.
While the team’s spine is typically viewed as its game-drivers, responsible for leading the team in open play and at set-piece, those drivers that day were leading the team less towards victory and more towards the edge of a cliff. Those 5 players – Vernon and Mosese Bason at hooker and number 8, Pledger and Simpson at halfback, and Sam Coles at fullback – were collectively responsible for no less than 14 turnovers.
The desire to attack, no matter the position on the field, lay at the foundation of these turnovers. Whereas the French were more than willing to kick for territory, the NZ U20 drivers consistently ran the ball back to attack, with rather predictable results.
Reus kicks the ball into the NZ 22 and Simpson carries the ball back. The NZ U20 carriers and support players are, however, not in sync, leading to an easy turnover to France. With a French player in the bin, Reus decides to go for 3, killing time and gaining momentum and scoreboard pressure.
Simpson would continue with this running tactic on kick return – likely due to coaching design – but the results would keep on repeating. Again, he is turned over at the breakdown and, again, the French kick for 3, moving further and further away on the scoreboard.
This theme of all-out attack would also come to the fore when the Baby Blacks had the ball themselves, with Simpson trying to gain maximum advantage when kicking for the line after a penalty was awarded. On two occasions, however, this attitude blew up in the NZ U20s’ faces.
In the first instance, Simpson fails to find touch while the kick return from Reus results in a 50-22. The French would go on to score from this possession inside the NZ 22. In the second, right before halftime, Simpson kicks the ball dead, with the opportunity for a vital score in pushing the comeback, squandered.
Summary
It should come as no surprise, after the last few results, that the French U20s are a poor match-up for the Baby Blacks. But, for a rugby country that loves talking about ‘learnings’, there is perhaps no better opportunity for the NZ U20s to show that they have, indeed, learned their lesson from last year's semi-final defeat.Give these French U20s an opportunity and you will pay the price. The NZ U20s will still need to attack but they will need to be accurate and kick smartly. It is clear that they have worked on certain things, kicking long throughout the 2025 campaign and trying to be more accurate around the breakdown. But if they fail to do so in their upcoming semi-final, however, nobody should be surprised that history will always, if given the chance, repeat itself.
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@SouthernMann said in WR U20 Championship 2025:
Highlanders have posted Josh Tengblad is back with the squad in Italy.
They showed him and Mafi amongst the players congratulating the NZ team after the match. Tengblad would have to replace someone, so maybe that is Baker who was unavailable until the next game through suspension.
Not a great start from NZ against Ireland but they dominated after that. Both wings were very dangerous and most passes seem to be sticking now. Apart from Cameron, who threw two identical shockers which missed their target and went into touch. Discipline and set pieces will be so important in the SF although NZ must have worked on their lineout drive defence which was very good again.
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@sparky said in WR U20 Championship 2025:
It finished 69-22 to New Zealand Under 29s so they advance to the Semi Finals.
Talk about a mismatch.
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@Daffy-Jaffy said in WR U20 Championship 2025:
If you can, watch the last 10 mins of Italy v Georgia. Rugby drama, heroics and madness of the highest order. Georgia's captain was sent off in the 12th min, then they played with 12 players for 10 mins after 2 yellow's.
That was crazy.
Some of those Georgian players looked like 40 year old men! How good was their number 8. Ran the ball strong all day. Italy are producing some really decent skilled backline players. Great to watch.
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@OomPB said in WR U20 Championship 2025:
This high scoring games isn't good preparation for the final.
I think this upcoming semi-final against Argentina should say a lot about whether the Junior Bok U20 curse is a real thing or not (9 lost semi-finals in 14 U20 World Championships since 2008).
Argentina U20s are by no means a bad side – they have a great scrum and maul, while also having some quality backs like Senillosa – but clearly, the Junior Boks are a better and more complete team. So they should beat them relatively comfortably. But given the Junior Boks’ history at the tournament, can you really assume that they'll reach the final?
My hope is that the Junior Boks continue playing how they have been during the group stages. It’s been really refreshing to see a Junior Bok side actually make use of the attacking weapons at their disposal, by varying their play off 9 and 10, and moving the ball past the first carrier. Moyo is also looking increasingly comfortable within the Junior Bok attack structure, and he’ll be key if the team is to go all the way.
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With the likely return of Josh Tengblad for the semi-final against the French U20s, a few changes will be required to the NZ U20 back five. Xavier Treacy, Jayden Sa, Finn McLeod, Caleb Woodley and Mosese Bason all started against Ireland, with one of them having to make way for Tengblad’s return to the starting line-up.
It seems likely that both Bason and Woodley will retain their starting jerseys for the semi-final clash, with Fale taking the number 20. The Bason/Fale-double act at number 8 has been a staple of the side throughout the 2025 campaign so we can expect it to continue. Woodley at openside has been the defensive anchor of the side, bringing plenty of intensity with his tackles and breakdown pressure. Oli Mathis is a prodigiously talented 7 in his own right but he’s such a different player to Woodley that the coaches might think that his inclusion would upset the balance of the back 5. [Sidenote: Mathis would be a great option on the bench, though, especially if the coaches were to opt for a 6/2-bench split. Seeing how the midfield bench players have consistently lacked impact when coming on throughout the season, this might not be a bad idea.]
Another certainty, I believe, is Xavier Treacy. A mostly unknown player in NZ rugby circles before this season’s U20 campaign – due to his upbringing in Melbourne – Treacy has quickly cemented his place in the starting line-up, thanks to his reliability at set-piece and his endless work-rate around the field. His 80-minute performance against Ireland was a good example of Treacy’s appetite for work, with a total of 53 involvements (ruck attendances, carry, tackle) throughout the match.
With Tengblad and Treacy on the field, the NZ U20s will have taken an important step towards properly resourcing the attacking breakdown. That leaves the side with just two more spots available, one starting and one on the bench, with 3 lock/6’s to fill those spots. All three players – Sa, Vakasiuola and McLeod – have strong arguments to be involved in the 23.
Sa provides bulk, work-rate and a low turnover-rate through the middle. Vakasiuola gives you more mobility around the field while also presenting a breakdown threat. McLeod, finally, has the most minutes on the field, so he’d give the side cohesion while giving the team another dynamic carrier on the edge.
An important factor to take into account, I think, is the stye of the opponent, with France, as I’ve previously mentioned, lethal in transition off opposition mistakes. I’ve gathered some relevant (if very limited) stats of Sa, Vakasiuola, and McLeod – turnovers conceded (TC), penalties conceded (PC), turnovers won (TW), tackle percentage, lineout rate per 80 minutes (LO%), and defenders beaten (DB) – with that in mind. All numbers are from the games against Italy, Georgia and Ireland in the group stages.
Someone like Jayden Sa has performed well in this regard during the tournament so far, as he hasn’t conceded a turnover while only giving away the solitary penalty in his 76 minutes of gametime across the pool games. But if he were to start against France U20, that would mean a considerable reshuffling of the back 5, with Tengblad most likely playing at 4 and Treacy moving to blindside and taking up a wider role. The question remains, however, how effective this repositioning would be, as Treacy has excelled in his locking play while making very rare appearances on the edge.
Players like McLeod and Vakasiuola, on the other hand, are very comfortable out wide, both on attack and on defence. They’re more dynamic on attack than Sa, having greater mobility and more swift footwork which they can use to beat their defenders. Furthermore, both McLeod and Vakasiuola have shown an ability to get breakdown steals, which could be a handy trait to combat the French pick-and-go within the attacking 22.
Potential back 5 for France U20
4. Tengblad, 5. Sa, 6. Treacy, 19. Vakasiuola, 20. Fale, [21. Mathis?]One way the NZ U20s could potentially approach the game is to focus on playing tight and emphasizing accuracy around set-piece and the breakdown in the opening stanzas. From this perspective, it would make sense to start with Sa, before eventually turning to Vakasiuola in the 2nd half while looking to attack in a more expansive manner. Another interesting addition would be someone like Mathis in the 21-jersey, covering the flankers and the wingers, while providing plenty of X-factor and attacking vision off the bench.
