Oceania Rugby Under 20
Most recent tournament
2022 Oceania Rugby Under 20 Championship
SportRugby union
Instituted2015
Number of teams4 (2018)

The Oceania Rugby Under 20 Championship is an international rugby union competition organised by Oceania Rugby, which is the regional governing body for rugby in Oceania.[1] It is contested by men's junior national teams with an under-20 age requirement, and played as two tournaments: the Oceania Championship for teams that qualify for the World Championship; and the Oceania Trophy for teams aiming to compete in the World Rugby U20 Trophy.

History

This event replaced Oceania's former age-grade competition, the Oceania Under 19 Rugby Championship. The inaugural first division tournament, played at Bond University, Gold Coast on Australia's Gold Coast in May 2015,[1] featured four national under 20 teams and was won by New Zealand.[2]

A planned tournament for a further six national under 20 sides was postponed,[3][4][5] until December 2015. However, Fiji and Tonga participated in the Australian Under 20 Rugby Championship to prepare for the 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Trophy.[1] The inaugural Oceania Rugby U20 Trophy, featuring four national under 20 teams, was played in Suva in December 2015 and won by Fiji.[6]

Teams

The teams for the Oceania Rugby Under 20 tournaments, as of 2022, were:

Championship[edit]

Trophy[edit]

Tournament winners

Championship[edit]

Year Host city Teams Winner Ref
2015 Gold Coast, Australia 4  New Zealand [2]
2016 Gold Coast, Australia 2  New Zealand [7]
2017 Gold Coast, Australia 4  New Zealand [8]
2018 Gold Coast, Australia 4  New Zealand [9]
2019 Gold Coast, Australia 4  Australia [10]
2020 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic [11]
2021 [12]
2022 Sunshine Coast, Australia 4  New Zealand [13]

Trophy[edit]

Year Host city Teams Winner Ref
2015 Suva, Fiji 4  Fiji [6]
2016 Suva, Fiji 3  Fiji [14]
2017 Lautoka, Fiji 2  Fiji [15]
2018 Apia, Samoa 2  Tonga [16]
2019 Not contested a
2020 Apia, Samoa 2  Samoa [17]
2021 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic [18]
2022 Nuku'alofa, Tonga 2  Samoa [19]

Notes

^a The Oceania U20 Trophy is traditionally held in November or December. There was no tournament in 2019 due to the event being pushed back by several months into 2020 to be closer to the World U20 Trophy.[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "2015 Tournament Overview". FORU. 8 December 2014. Archived from the original on 1 February 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Australia U20's fall to New Zealand in Oceania Rugby Junior Championship". ARU. 9 May 2015. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  3. ^ Leslie, Cameron (21 February 2015). "Waipu coach off to islands". The Northern Advocate. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  4. ^ "Rugby Union targets U20 titles". PNG Loop. 20 May 2014. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  5. ^ Wilson, Matariki (12 March 2015). "Under 20 tournament deferment disappoints". Cook Island News. Archived from the original on 17 March 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Fiji Wins Oceania Rugby Junior Trophy". Oceania Rugby. 5 December 2015. Archived from the original on 2 February 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  7. ^ "Australia bounce back to beat baby Blacks". The Roar. 8 May 2016. Archived from the original on 7 May 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  8. ^ "Rugby: New Zealand U20s thrash Australia". New Zealand Herald. 7 May 2017. Archived from the original on 6 May 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  9. ^ "New Zealand too strong for Junior Wallabies". rugby.com.au. 6 May 2018. Archived from the original on 5 May 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  10. ^ Greenwood, Emma (4 May 2019). "Junior Wallabies beat New Zealand 24-0 to win maiden Oceania U20 title". Rugby.com.au. Archived from the original on 4 May 2019.
  11. ^ "Oceania U20s Championship cancelled". rugby.com.au. 22 May 2020. Archived from the original on 22 May 2020.
  12. ^ "New Zealand Under 20 ready for home campaign". allblacks.com. 7 July 2021. Archived from the original on 1 October 2021.
  13. ^ Julian, Adam (10 July 2022). "New Zealand Under 20s crowned Oceania Rugby champions". All Blacks.
  14. ^ "Fiji crowned Oceania U20 Trophy champions". World Rugby. 10 December 2016. Archived from the original on 22 December 2016.
  15. ^ "Fiji Qualify to 2018 World Rugby U20s Trophy". Oceania Rugby. 4 December 2017. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  16. ^ "Tonga wins 2018 Oceania Rugby U20s Trophy". Oceania Rugby. 11 December 2018.
  17. ^ "Samoa U20s Qualify for World Rugby U20s Trophy". Oceania Rugby. 22 February 2020. Archived from the original on 18 June 2021.
  18. ^ Deo, Rohit (9 April 2021). "2021 Oceania Rugby U20 Trophy cancelled". The Fiji Times. Archived from the original on 25 June 2021.
  19. ^ "Sports news in brief for December 7". Radio New Zealand. 7 December 2023.
  20. ^ Airey, Thomas. "Samoa U20 selected for Oceania Trophy". Samoa Observer. Archived from the original on 26 January 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2020.

External links

Oceania Rugby Junior Championships
International rugby union competitions
Categories