2014 IRB Junior World Championship – New Zealand

[Hugh Jarse]

We know that the 2014 version will be held in New Zealand, probably Auckland, but ATM there is not much else known about the tournament.

Regardless, the preseason training for 2014 Colts and Grade will be starting soon.

There was no NSW Under 19 vs Queensland Under 19 game this season to help gauge development of talent in the first year out of school.

The process to select, train and prepare our 2014 Under 20 team for the Jnr RWC in Auckland will probably start in earnest about the same time as the Club rugby pre-seasons start.

In parallel with the club preseason training, the revamped Academy model, whatever that will look like, will also kick off. We have typically gone into the Jnr RWC a little underdone in the last couple of years. Will 2014 be any different? Have we learned any lessons recently or will we simply roll out last years recipe and hope for a different outcome?

In the absence of any other info, here is last years squad that was originally announced for 2013.
There were a couple of changes to this due to injury and withdrawal, but here is that squad listing which players I believe will probably not be eligible to return for 2014, plus a short list of those who must be looking good for a call up in 2014. I may have got a few of these wrong.

2013 Australian Under-20 IRB Junior World Championship squad (Too old for 2014)
Allan Ala'alatoa NSW Southern Districts Prop
Mark Baldwin NSW Randwick Flanker
Curtis Browning QLD University of Queensland (c) Flanker
Luke Burton WA University RC WA Flyhalf/Centre
Chris Feauai-Sautia QLD, Souths Centre
Oliver Hoskins NSW Cottesloe Prop
Samuel Kerevi QLD GPS Old Boys Centre
Phill Kite QLD GPS Old Boys Prop
Brad Lacey WA Wests Scarborough Wing
Silatolu Latu NSW Sydney University Prop
Ben Meehan QLD Sunnybank scrumhalf
Jock Merriman NSW Sydney University scrumhalf
Maile Ngauamo QLD Sunnybank Hooker
Alex Northam NSW Manly Wing
Harry Parker QLD University of Queensland Wing
Andrew Ready QLD Easts Hooker
Ulupano Seuteni QLD Easts Fullback
Patrick Sio NSW Northern Suburbs No 8
Henry Taefu QLD Sunnybank Centre
Senio Toleafoa NSW West Harbour Lock
Micheal Wells NSW Northern Suburbs Flanker
Waldo Wessels, NSW, Southern Districts scrumhalf

2013 Squad Eligible for 2014
Jack Dempsey NSW Gordon Flanker
Siotome Kavapalu NSW Manly Prop
Matt Philip NSW Manly Lock
Jake McIntyre NSW Sunnybank Flyhalf
Jonah Placid QLD Easts Fullback
Thomas Staniforth ACT Royals Lock

Leading Candidates for 2014 Selection
Reece Hodge
Andrew Kellaway
Angus Pulver
Tomas Robertson
Jim Stewart
Mitchell Whitely
David Horwitz

 

[tigerland12]

Pretty sure Pettowa Parraka is still eligible?

Michael Gunn (Easts, QLD) would have to be a leading contender. Sam Greene (Wests,QLD) at fly half is another.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

If they keep to form, an initial "training" group of about 50 will be announced in December, and the whittling down process will begin, with the final squad being announced about 8-10 weeks before the tournament, after about three selection camps.

Is this too little, too late for a tournament that will probably be held in July 2014?

How can we do it better, recognising that the Pulveriser is claiming that there isn't too much money in the kitty to be extravagent with our selection and preparation process.

Hodge, Horwitz, Green, and McIntyre - All #10's.
Throw in Debreczeni (West Harbour and Rebels EPS) to the #10 battle as well.

 

[Forcefield]

I think you are mistaken. Players born in 2014 are eligible. There might be others, but that means that Luke Burton and Brad Lacey will both be eligible for the U20s next year. I'd wager Corey Thomas who is a lock in the Force academy might get a look in too. He was in the extended training squad last year.

 

[Slim 293]

Players born in 2014 are eligible.

Eligible, but not ideal..........

 

[Forcefield]

Haha. My bad. I meant plays born in 1994.

 

[Caputo]

2013 Australian Under-20 IRB Junior World Championship squad eligible (for 2014)

Alan Ala'alatoa Prop Brumbies Wider Group
Ofiu Manukeu Lock
Tom Staniforth Lock Brumbies Wider Group
Jack Dempsey Gordon Flanker
Patrick Sio No 8 Brumbies Wider Group
Angus Pulver Half Back
Luke Burton Fly Half Western Force EPS

Jake McIntyre NSW Sunnybank Flyhalf

Lalakai Foketi Manly Centre
Brad Lacey Wing
Reece Hodge FB
Jonah Placid FB

Others listed from original post by Hugh and others

SiotomeKavapaluNSW Manly Prop
MattPhilipNSW Manly Lock
Andrew Kellaway
Tomas Robertson
Jim Stewart
Mitchell Whitely
David Horwitz
Corey Thomas Lock WA
Debreczeni (West Harbour and Rebels EPS) Fly Half
Michael Gunn Back Row
Sam Greene Fly Half

 

[Caputo]

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/rug...h-for-stars-of-the-future-20131019-2vu0c.html

ACT Rugby will host an under-20s trial on November 2, targeting the best junior players from Canberra and interstate and trying to bring them under the umbrella of the Brumbies.
It's a move which will almost certainly ruffle feathers in NSW and Queensland, as the ACT looks to bolster both its local competition and the playing depth at the Brumbies.
The Brumbies want to bridge the gap for schoolboy stars to Super Rugby, offering them a chance to move to the capital to play in the ACT grade competition.
The Brumbies have invited 11 Canberra premier division players to pre-season training and more than 50 junior hopefuls are expected at the under-20s trials.
The ACT is also aided by a reformatting of the ARU's Australian under-20s selection process. It gives players outside of NSW and Queensland a greater chance of getting noticed.
The ACT, Victoria and Western Australia will play in a combined states tournament in February.
Selectors will then pick a combined team to play against NSW and Queensland in an Australian under-20s trial.

 

[Caputo]

Staniforth heads young guns list

Brumbies Union News
DateNovember 9, 2013
Chris Dutton

Tom Staniforth. Photo: Getty Images
Super Rugby hopeful Tom Staniforth headlines the ACT under-20s team to play in a combined states knockout in preparation for the Australian trials.
More than 70 players trained for the chance to play for the ACT.
The Brumbies targeted interstate stars this year for the first time with the lure of playing and training close to the Super Rugby team. Staniforth has been part of the Brumbies squad for the past year and played for the Australian under-20s team this year.
Staniforth will be joined by Neori Nadruku and Tyrel Lomax - sons of former Raiders Noa Nadruku and John Lomax - Jason Tomane, Montana O'Neill, Andrew Robinson, Mitchell Douch, Keith Morgan and Connal McInernery.

Thirteen players from interstate trialled with the Brumbies and four made it through to the final cut.
The ACT team will play against Victoria and Western Australia.
A combined team will then be picked to play against powerhouses NSW and Queensland.
ACT under-20s squad

Joel Penders, Blake Henman, Jordan Cremerius, Joe Powell, Tyrel Lomax, Mitchell Douch, Neori Nadruku, Darcy Eason, Peni Nifo, Jamie Bodman, Connal McInernery, Keith Morgan, Ethan Jones, Sam Giltrap, Tyron Jones, Jason Tomane, Tom Staniforth, James Rumble, Callum Richardson, Andrew Robinson, Callum Smith, Washington Underwood, Tyler Harris, Seth Going, Mitchell Tye, Jordan Read, Rohan Perry, Gerhard Pretorius, Dean Paragalli, Semisi Rogoyawa, Tyler Bunting, Montana O’Neill, Hugh Cowen, Andrew Durham.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/staniforth-heads-young-guns-list-20131108-2x7c8.html#ixzz2k6gi0coU​

 

[Forcefield]

Staniforth was very good value in this year's U20s. It's great he gets another crack at it.

Is Patrick Sio not with the Brumbies? He also looked really good in the U20s. Should make a great 8.

It'll be interesting to see which of those three states is dominant at U20 level. I have a feeling the ACT will be comfortably ahead.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Most Colts and Grade clubs are doing either preseason, pre-Christmas or off season training at the moment.

Any word on the programme for the 2014 U20's from the snouts?

 

[SuperGrover]

An interesting insight into the way England goes about their business...

http://www.espnscrum.com/england/rugby/story/207379.html

 

[Tight loose]

Draw is out. Australia have Argentina, England and Italy in Pool games.
I note some games are night games...in NZ....at night...conditions could well be a factor!.

 

[Jets]

Talk of games against Pacific nations teams before the JRWC. NZ and SA apparently turned down an offer for games. At least they are looking at playing someone other than PNG.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

From SA Rugby Web site

http://www.sarugby.com.au/news/breaking-news-under-20s-championships-2014/

Adelaide to host Under 20′s Championships 2014

In 2014, the Australian Rugby Union will run a comprehensive Under 20′s Representative program. This program will ensure the competitiveness of the Australian Under 20′s Team that will participate in the IRB Under 20′s World Cup, which is due to be held in New Zealand in July/August (2014).
The Under 20 Junior Falcons have been invited to participate in a Southern States Under 20′s Tournament featuring QLD Country, NSW Country, ACT, Victoria and WA. This tournament will be run between Friday 21 February and Thursday 27 February in Adelaide.
From the Southern States tournament, a Southern States Merit Team will be selected by ARU staff to participate in fixtures against NSW, QLD and Tonga in March 2014. From these games it is more than likely that the Australian Under 20′s squad will be selected to start their preparation for the IRB Under 20′s World Cup. This provides a unique opportunity for a number of talented South Australians to obtain further representative honours.

So it looks like a fairly significant change of process for selection, preparation and development for the Under 20's this year.

Information seems to be a little scarce about the approach, and even more scarce about who is involved in the various squads.

With time more information should be forthcoming, especially as the "regional U20's" will be on in late February, and a 4 way quadrangular between QLD, NSW, Tonga, and Southern States Merit team a couple of weeks later.

 

[Lee Grant]

HJ

It's frustrating how the details are leaking out and then reading the tea leaves about what they mean, isn't it?

But it looks as though there will be a National Under 20 Championship and the games will be de facto trials for the Oz Under 20 squad to compete in the IRB Junior World Cup..

And before that there will be regional trials to select the teams that will compete in the Nationals.

There is no info on the ARU site: you have rely on reports from the Tahs, Brumbies etc.

Here is the link to info about the NSW regional team (which will be called NSW Colts). It's been posted before.

http://www.waratahs.com.au/News/NewsArticle/tabid/157/ArticleID/10629/Default.aspx

Despite the absence of information from the ARU, you have to take your hat of to Pulver and the ARU for coming up with something different.

Having two levels of trials should stop the bulk of complaints on the forum about ex-schoolboy stars being over-rated by national Under 20 selectors, but there will probably be some whinges about who made the trial teams to get into the regional sides in the first place. We love a whinge.

As an additional benefit the U/20 regional trials and the National Under 20s Championship will help teams involved in the new National Rugby Championship [NRC] later in the year, to assess players for future recruitment. And, not to the point of this thread, but the NRC will serve as a means of assessment of players for Super Rugby teams.

On paper, this double filtering of players should ensure that the cream rises to the top better than it has in the past.

I like it.

The next thing the ARU has to work on is to increase the number of cows so that there is more milk to separate to produce more cream.
.

 

[Bruce Ross]

Despite the absence of information from the ARU, you have to take your hat of to Pulver and the ARU for coming up with something different.

That LG can come up with something that he feels merits us doffing our caps "to Pulver and the ARU" is a reflection of just how keenly he monitors Australian rugby. I would have been scratching my head for days trying to think of anything positive.

I'm all for trying new approaches but I think we also need to stick to international best practice by fine tuning the chosen squad against international competition. For that reason I hope we repeat the very successful experiment last year of challenging the PNG National team. Not only did we manage to beat them 72-12 but as a consequence we lifted our competition standing by one place to a very encouraging 7th.

Onward and upward.
.

 

[Lee Grant]

Bruce

Let me know in future if you need to find the smiley icon.
.

 

[Joe King]

On paper, this double filtering of players should ensure that the cream rises to the top better than it has in the past.

I like it.

The next thing the ARU has to work on is to increase the number of cows so that there is more milk to separate to produce more cream.
.

I agree. I think more filtering to get the cream to rise to the top is the key.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

^^^ Not sure we need more filtering, just better quality processing of the cream that is at the top.

More filtering has lead to the mishmash pathway that has developed over recent times. Juniors Club Pathway, Schools Pathway, Colts - no pathway, Academies, Junior Gold Pathway, National Gold (AKA NTS) pathway, AJRU pathway, Intermittent Under 19 selections.

One simple pathway with free and open competition for positions on that pathway. Consistent and quality Coaching, Development, S&C and nutritional programmes for those on the pathway.