As the World Rugby U20 Championship kicks off, here’s an historic overview and a preview of the participating teams.
U20 CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM PREVIEW
SOUTH AFRICA
Seeding for 2023: 3
Tournaments played: 12 (2008-19)
Best finish: Champions (2012)
Worst Finish: Fifth (2011)
U20 Championship match record: Played 60 / Won 43 / Drawn 1 / Lost 16
U20 Championship points/tries scored: 2,102 / 293
U20 Graduates: 55
Most capped U20 graduate: Eben Etzebeth (110 tests)
Did you know …? Handré Pollard, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Steven Kitshoff were all Junior World Cup winners with the Junior Springboks on home soil in 2012 and then Rugby World Cup 2019 winners with the Springboks in Japan.
Captain: Paul de Villiers
Coach: Bafana Nhleko
A former Golden Lions U21 coach, Nhleko joined the Junior Springboks as an assistant coach in 2018. Promoted to the top job in 2021, Nhleko led South Africa to the U20 Six Nations Summer Series 2022 title in Italy.
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ARGENTINA
Seeding for 2023: 4
Tournaments played: 12 (2008-19)
Best finish: Third (2016)
Worst finish: 11th (2009, 2017)
U20 Championship match record: Played 60 / Won 29 / Lost 31
U20 Championship points/tries scored: 1,398 / 162
U20 graduates: 85
Most capped U20 graduate: Pablo Matera (91 tests)
Did you know …? Argentina were involved in the only kicking competition in Junior World Championship history, beating Wales 9-8 to reach the fifth-place play-off in 2010.
Captain: Eliseo Chiavassa
Coach: Álvaro Galindo
Former Los Pumas flanker Galindo, who won 13 caps for his country between 2004-12, is preparing for his first campaign as Argentina coach. Having joined the Unión Argentina de Rugby as a regional academy manager in 2017, he became U18 coach a year later and is keen to balance development with performance in South Africa.
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ITALY
Seeding for 2023: 9
Tournaments played: 10 (2008-09, 2011-12, 2014-19)
Best finish: Eighth (2017, 2018)
Worst finish: 13th (2009 – last year of 16 teams)
U20 Championship match record: Played 50 / Won 14 / Lost 36
U20 Championship points/tries scored: 828 / 103
U20 graduates: 75 (67 Championship, eight Trophy)
Most capped U20 graduate: Tommaso Allan (70 tests)
Did you know …? Only five players have scored more U20 Championship tries than Italian winger Giovanni D’Onofrio, who crossed the whitewash eight times between 2017-18. New Zealander Tevita Li is the tournament’s most prolific try-scorer, having scored 13 times across the 2014 and 2015 Championships.
Captain: Giovanni Quattrini
Coach: Massimo Brunello
A former Italy winger, who played eight tests for his country between 1988-93, Brunello got his first taste of the U20 tournament as an assistant coach when the tournament was last held in South Africa in 2012. Following five years in charge of Calvisano, Brunello took the U20 job in 2020 and led the Azzurrini to a third-place finish in the 2023 U20 Six Nations.
ALSO READ: South Africa to host next two World Rugby U20 Championship
GEORGIA
Seeding for 2023: 10
Tournaments played: 4 (2016-19)
Best finish: Ninth (2018)
Worst finish: 10th (2016, 2017, 2019)
U20 Championship match record: Played 20 / Won 7 / Lost 13
U20 Championship points/tries scored: 347 / 42
U20 graduates: 63 (27 Championship and 36 Trophy)
Most capped U20 graduate: Lasha Khmaladze (U20 Trophy – 94 tests)
Did you know …? Georgia warmed up for this tournament with a 40-38 defeat of England in Tbilisi.
Captain: Lasha Tsikhistavi
Coach: Lado Kilasonia
Despite only turning 38 in March, Kilasonia has been involved with the Junior Lelos since 2012, when he became an assistant coach ahead of the U20 Trophy in Salt Lake City, USA. He continued in that role until taking over as head coach for the team’s commitments in South Africa two years ago, the high point of his tenure to date coming against England in Tbilisi earlier this month.
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