WR U20 Championship 2025
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After a terrible performance in their first game, the Baby Blacks improved a lot as the tournament went on. They were always two or three big forwards light to defeat a team like the South African one. But the Under 20s are progressing, especially in terms of their organisation, temperament and game management and a number of the players are young enough to go again next year.
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https://www.rugbypass.com/plus/the-rugbypass-team-of-the-world-rugby-u20-championship/
RugbyPass put together a team of the tournament with, unsurprisingly, a considerable number of Junior Boks (6: Mnebelele, Norton, Pead, Moyo, Williams and Jooste). There were also two NZ U20 players chosen: Wiseman at inside centre and Vakasiuola at lock.
It’s good to see Wiseman recognized for his efforts, as I thought he had a great tournament. He’s a smart player who typically makes those around him better. He’s also still eligible for next year’s U20 campaign. With a bit more muscle to his frame, he could be really effective in his style of play, I think.
Vakasiuola, I thought, was a bit out of left field as a selection for team of the tournament, especially as he only started the one game (Georgia, Rd. 2) and played only a total of 160 minutes across the tournament. He did well in his time on the field but still, a bit of a strange one. The writer (Jamie Lyall) didn’t seem to want to pick two lighter locks – with Riley Norton already at 4 – but I think Xavier Treacy definitely deserved more than a mention for all of his efforts throughout the tournament. Jayden Sa was also immense in the knock-out games against France and South Africa.
Vaenuku was perhaps a bit unlucky not to be selected at 14 but Cheswill Jooste was also really good throughout the tournament. Letiu had, quietly, a great World Cup as well. He's not as noticeable as someone like Oudenryn but if you see where he pops up on the field, it shows that Letiu has an incredible work rate. The biggest compliment I can give him is that he reminded me of Codie Taylor, just everywhere on the field.
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https://www.rugbypass.com/plus/the-rugbypass-team-of-the-world-rugby-u20-championship/
RugbyPass put together a team of the tournament with, unsurprisingly, a considerable number of Junior Boks (6: Mnebelele, Norton, Pead, Moyo, Williams and Jooste). There were also two NZ U20 players chosen: Wiseman at inside centre and Vakasiuola at lock.
It’s good to see Wiseman recognized for his efforts, as I thought he had a great tournament. He’s a smart player who typically makes those around him better. He’s also still eligible for next year’s U20 campaign. With a bit more muscle to his frame, he could be really effective in his style of play, I think.
Vakasiuola, I thought, was a bit out of left field as a selection for team of the tournament, especially as he only started the one game (Georgia, Rd. 2) and played only a total of 160 minutes across the tournament. He did well in his time on the field but still, a bit of a strange one. The writer (Jamie Lyall) didn’t seem to want to pick two lighter locks – with Riley Norton already at 4 – but I think Xavier Treacy definitely deserved more than a mention for all of his efforts throughout the tournament. Jayden Sa was also immense in the knock-out games against France and South Africa.
Vaenuku was perhaps a bit unlucky not to be selected at 14 but Cheswill Jooste was also really good throughout the tournament. Letiu had, quietly, a great World Cup as well. He's not as noticeable as someone like Oudenryn but if you see where he pops up on the field, it shows that Letiu has an incredible work rate. The biggest compliment I can give him is that he reminded me of Codie Taylor, just everywhere on the field.
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Congratulations to the Baby Boks. A special squad with some excellent players. The Half Back looks ready to play Test Rugby already.
@sparky said in WR U20 Championship 2025:
Congratulations to the Baby Boks. A special squad with some excellent players. The Half Back looks ready to play Test Rugby already.
Rassie has picked 3 of the U20 youngsters to attend the next 2-week Springbok training camp coming up in JHB.
It's only to familiarize themselves with the Bok coaching set up - and I guess for the coaches to start early guidance, but still impressive for those 3 lads.
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Journey starting with international series for next year
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Looking ahead to next year (and why an NZ U18 side would be a real benefit to the NZ U20s too)
With the 2025 U20 campaign over, I was thinking about how next year’s U20 team could shape up and where its potential strengths and weaknesses would be. But as I put together a (very much preliminary) potential 23, it did become more clear to me why NZR would’ve wanted to put an NZ U18 team in place in its pathways, especially when comparing it to a potential Junior Wallaby side for next year. While NZR eventually caved to the schools’ demand to retain NZ Schools as the primary age grade team at U18 level, for 2025 at least – see: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/561272/nz-rugby-drop-plan-to-establish-under-18-team – I’m not sure the current structure serves the pathway particularly well.
If cohesion is a real thing – I’m not quite as convinced of Ben Darwin’s arguments as some others but still – then it’s easy to see how Rugby Australia and the Junior Wallabies are trying to create a performance-edge by optimizing and narrowing their pathways.
There’s quite a bit of overlap for players – e.g. Raharuhi Palmer playing for both NZ U18 Barbarians and Māori U18 in 2024, Angus Grover playing for both AU U18 and AU U18 Sevens – but the idea is more to display different levels of variation and cohesion rather than predictive accuracy per se.While the NZ U20s are potentially drawing from 6 different national rep environments – NZ Schools, NZ U18 Barbarians, Māori U18, plus 7s teams such as NZ U18 Sevens, New Edition and NZ Cavaliers from the 2024 Global Youth Sevens – the Australians have tried to significantly streamline their pathways. The concept seems pretty clear: identify players as soon as possible and get them playing together, so they can develop their shared understanding of each other’s playing styles and habits.
Furthermore, there seems to be a logic to these two AU pathways as well, the forwards playing together for the AU U18s while the backs also spend considerable time together at the AU U18 Sevens team. It is worth noting that the AU U18 Sevens squad dominated the Global Youth Sevens in 2024, where they looked very well coached and tactically prepared.
Players across the Ta$man also look to have clear predecessors in their pathway. A player like Wallace Charlie, the MVP of the Global Youth Sevens, looks destined to follow in the footsteps of the 2025 Junior Wallaby standout, Sid Harvey, the latter also excelling at the Global Youth Sevens before going into AU 7s, and eventually returning to the XVs game at U20 level. Charlie has followed Sid Harvey’s path into AU 7s, making his debut at this year’s LA SVNS tournament. He’ll hope to recreate Harvey’s impact at U20 level as well.
https://media2.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExeXU4aTdmaTl2Mzd0bDJ6aXNrdDBoaXozaTFudTI2YmF3em4wZTg5dSZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/R2BV18IMYyqCYkPc2D/giphy.gif
https://media1.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExOTBkanE0dm84NjN6a3Vpcnp3OGNwM2x5dDczeG1hN2prMzEwOGUxbiZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/6rKxSeyxpdurYSrt4T/giphy.gif
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A triple threat: 2024 Global Youth Sevens tournament MVP, Wallace Charlie (number 10 with the scrumcap), displaying his ability to kick, distribute and carry in last year's final against New Edition.As far as next year’s NZ U20s are concerned, their pathways seem much more chaotic and muddled. One way they’ve been trying to circumvent this chaos, is by using the NZ U18 Barbarians (instead of NZ Schools) as a real development team, with many of the 2024 Barbarian backline already involved with the 2025 NZ U20s (Wiseman, Lewai, Muliaina). As the 2024 NZ U18 Barbarians used a similar attack shape to the 2025 NZ U20s (one would expect that this was by design), these players were already familiar with some of the attaching structures and requirements at the next level.
The typical L-shape attack we’ve seen with the NZ U20s, with a combined horizontal and vertical line of runners/pass targets in motion, already in play with the 2024 NZ U18 Barbarians, run by Mika Muliaina against Samoa U18sWith no centralized U18 high performance team, combinations will need to be found at other places. The loose forwards will most likely be more than familiar with each other, as the primary candidates will have already played a lot together this year for the NZ U20s – McLeod, Woodley, Fale. Then again, you’d wonder how much smoother and effective this loose forward trio could’ve been, if they’d already formed a combination at U18 level. The tight five, on the other hand, will largely have to start from scratch, although selectors might look for combinations at SR U20-level such as Leota, Tatafu and Brown who are all in the Blues pathways together.
Of course, I’m not saying that this is how things will pan out, especially in terms of personnel that is concerned. There are always injuries as well as players putting their hands up in SR U20 (U19 for AU) or club rugby. These teams could look completely different when 2026 comes around. But, for argument’s sake, when looking at the two rosters above from a cohesion-perspective, you’d understand why NZR would want a NZ U18 team.
As NZ age grade sides are leaning more and more into tactical innovation and complexity, players will need time to learn patterns and systems, as well as each other's habits and playing styles. Having an NZ U18 team would allow for this, while also creating a player culture which can be replicated at U20 level. In this sense, it seems only a matter of time before the NZ Schools team will eventually have to make way for an NZ U18 team which can combine players from First XV and club rugby.
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Looking ahead to next year (and why an NZ U18 side would be a real benefit to the NZ U20s too)
With the 2025 U20 campaign over, I was thinking about how next year’s U20 team could shape up and where its potential strengths and weaknesses would be. But as I put together a (very much preliminary) potential 23, it did become more clear to me why NZR would’ve wanted to put an NZ U18 team in place in its pathways, especially when comparing it to a potential Junior Wallaby side for next year. While NZR eventually caved to the schools’ demand to retain NZ Schools as the primary age grade team at U18 level, for 2025 at least – see: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/561272/nz-rugby-drop-plan-to-establish-under-18-team – I’m not sure the current structure serves the pathway particularly well.
If cohesion is a real thing – I’m not quite as convinced of Ben Darwin’s arguments as some others but still – then it’s easy to see how Rugby Australia and the Junior Wallabies are trying to create a performance-edge by optimizing and narrowing their pathways.
There’s quite a bit of overlap for players – e.g. Raharuhi Palmer playing for both NZ U18 Barbarians and Māori U18 in 2024, Angus Grover playing for both AU U18 and AU U18 Sevens – but the idea is more to display different levels of variation and cohesion rather than predictive accuracy per se.While the NZ U20s are potentially drawing from 6 different national rep environments – NZ Schools, NZ U18 Barbarians, Māori U18, plus 7s teams such as NZ U18 Sevens, New Edition and NZ Cavaliers from the 2024 Global Youth Sevens – the Australians have tried to significantly streamline their pathways. The concept seems pretty clear: identify players as soon as possible and get them playing together, so they can develop their shared understanding of each other’s playing styles and habits.
Furthermore, there seems to be a logic to these two AU pathways as well, the forwards playing together for the AU U18s while the backs also spend considerable time together at the AU U18 Sevens team. It is worth noting that the AU U18 Sevens squad dominated the Global Youth Sevens in 2024, where they looked very well coached and tactically prepared.
Players across the Ta$man also look to have clear predecessors in their pathway. A player like Wallace Charlie, the MVP of the Global Youth Sevens, looks destined to follow in the footsteps of the 2025 Junior Wallaby standout, Sid Harvey, the latter also excelling at the Global Youth Sevens before going into AU 7s, and eventually returning to the XVs game at U20 level. Charlie has followed Sid Harvey’s path into AU 7s, making his debut at this year’s LA SVNS tournament. He’ll hope to recreate Harvey’s impact at U20 level as well.
https://media2.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExeXU4aTdmaTl2Mzd0bDJ6aXNrdDBoaXozaTFudTI2YmF3em4wZTg5dSZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/R2BV18IMYyqCYkPc2D/giphy.gif
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A triple threat: 2024 Global Youth Sevens tournament MVP, Wallace Charlie (number 10 with the scrumcap), displaying his ability to kick, distribute and carry in last year's final against New Edition.As far as next year’s NZ U20s are concerned, their pathways seem much more chaotic and muddled. One way they’ve been trying to circumvent this chaos, is by using the NZ U18 Barbarians (instead of NZ Schools) as a real development team, with many of the 2024 Barbarian backline already involved with the 2025 NZ U20s (Wiseman, Lewai, Muliaina). As the 2024 NZ U18 Barbarians used a similar attack shape to the 2025 NZ U20s (one would expect that this was by design), these players were already familiar with some of the attaching structures and requirements at the next level.
The typical L-shape attack we’ve seen with the NZ U20s, with a combined horizontal and vertical line of runners/pass targets in motion, already in play with the 2024 NZ U18 Barbarians, run by Mika Muliaina against Samoa U18sWith no centralized U18 high performance team, combinations will need to be found at other places. The loose forwards will most likely be more than familiar with each other, as the primary candidates will have already played a lot together this year for the NZ U20s – McLeod, Woodley, Fale. Then again, you’d wonder how much smoother and effective this loose forward trio could’ve been, if they’d already formed a combination at U18 level. The tight five, on the other hand, will largely have to start from scratch, although selectors might look for combinations at SR U20-level such as Leota, Tatafu and Brown who are all in the Blues pathways together.
Of course, I’m not saying that this is how things will pan out, especially in terms of personnel that is concerned. There are always injuries as well as players putting their hands up in SR U20 (U19 for AU) or club rugby. These teams could look completely different when 2026 comes around. But, for argument’s sake, when looking at the two rosters above from a cohesion-perspective, you’d understand why NZR would want a NZ U18 team.
As NZ age grade sides are leaning more and more into tactical innovation and complexity, players will need time to learn patterns and systems, as well as each other's habits and playing styles. Having an NZ U18 team would allow for this, while also creating a player culture which can be replicated at U20 level. In this sense, it seems only a matter of time before the NZ Schools team will eventually have to make way for an NZ U18 team which can combine players from First XV and club rugby.
@Mauss The U19 PU competition will be starting shortly, and most of the SR U20 players came from those teams. I pay more attention to the Northern Region competition (Blues/Chiefs) but there will be other games between the Hurricanes and South Island PUs. Waikato plays Wellington this Sat as a pre-season game.
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Oli Mathis had delayed concussion, which was the reason he wasn't available for the playoffs.
https://www.rugbypass.com/news/oli-mathis-reveals-why-he-missed-u20-world-championship-final/
