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New Zealand U20 begin quest for drought-breaking title against Wales

New Zealand lift the trophy after their victory during The Rugby Championship U20 Round 3 match between Australia and New Zealand at Sunshine Coast Stadium on May 12, 2024 in Sunshine Coast, Australia. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)

Tournament hosts Australia U20s watched on at Sunshine Coast Stadium earlier this year as New Zealand U20s captain Vernon Bason collected one of the biggest trophies in rugby. The Kiwis had just won the inaugural Rugby Championship U20 title with a 36-25 victory.

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Bason celebrated the moment with the rest of the New Zealand squad by lifting the trophy in triumph, but they also knew the job wasn’t done just yet. This is a group that boasts both potential and skill, and they’ll be hungry to etch their names into the history books in South Africa.

As the captain made a note of after that match way back in May, the New Zealanders haven’t won World Rugby’s U20 Championship since 2017. France have taken hold of that tournament with a run of three titles on the bounce and they’ll be eager to make that four.

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“We’ve got the job done here, we’ll celebrate as a team but we’ll keep in mind we’ve still got a job to do later in the year,” captain Vernon Bason told RugbyPass earlier this year.

“That’s something that… it’s been a long time since New Zealand U20s or the Baby Blacks have won that.

“Looking at this group, I think we’ve got real big potential to be able to break that streak and hopefully come away with it.”

New Zealand get their U20 Championship campaign underway against Wales U20 on Sunday morning (NZST). It’s a must-win matchup for the Kiwis who will also play defending champions France and Spain to round out pool play.

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Coach Jono Gibbes has made seven changes to the starting team that defeated Australia a couple of months ago, which includes a potentially significant omission in the backrow due to a tournament-ending injury.

Loosehead prop Will Martin will pack down in the front row along with captain Vernon Bason at hooker and tighthead Josh Smith. Tom Allen and Liam Jack have also retained their spots in the middle row following the win over Australia in May.

Following the injury to Waikato and Chiefs backrower Malachi Wrampling-Alec, the Baby Blacks have been forced into a bit of a backrow reshuffle with Johnny Lee shifting from openside flanker to No. 8.

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Tai Cribb comes into the run-on side at blindside flanker while Matt Lowe will carry the responsibility of wearing one of the most famous jersey numbers in New Zealand rugby after being name on the other side of the scrum.

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As for the backline, Dylan Pledger was fantastic during the inaugural Rugby Championship U20 which included a couple of tries. The Otago halfback will link up with tall first five-eighth Rico Simpson in the halves once again against the Welsh.

Other than the inclusion of try-scoring machine Stanley Solomon on the left wing, the rest of the backline looks completely different. Vice-captain Xavi Taele moves from outside centre into the No. 12 which sees Aki Tuivailala start in the No. 13 jumper.

Frank Vaenuku has got the nod to start on the right wing while the ever-reliable Sam Coles will line up at fullback. Coles played a starring role in New Zealand’s comeback win over Australia on the Sunshine Coast.

“I’m really pleased we arrived when we did so we could acclimatise, and then having a full contact hit out really blew the cobwebs out,” Jono Gibbes said in a statement.

“We were a bit clunky which was to be expected but it will hold us in good stead.

“We’ve watched (Wales) through the Six Nations and what we’ve seen is a good mix; strong set-piece play but also really strong play through the midfield and speed on the edge.”

This match in Cape Town is set to get underway at 5:00 am NZST on Sunday morning. Kiwis can watch on Sky Sport but the match will also be streamed live and free on RugbyPass TV for those outside of New Zealand and some other regions.

New Zealand U20 to take on Wales U20

  1. Will Martin
  2. Vernon Bason (c)
  3. Josh Smith
  4. Tom Allen
  5. Liam Jack
  6. Tai Cribb
  7. Matt Lowe
  8. Johnny Lee
  9. Dylan Pledger
  10. Rico Simpson
  11. Stanley Solomon
  12. Xavi Taele (vc)
  13. Aki Tuivailala
  14. Frank Vaenuku
  15. Sam Coles

Replacements

  1. A-One Lolofie
  2. Sika Pole
  3. Logan Wallace
  4. Cameron Christie
  5. Jeremiah Avei-Collin
  6. Riley Williams
  7. Cooper Grant
  8. Xavier Tito-Harris
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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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