• Welcome to the forums of Green & Gold Rugby.
    We have recently made some changes to the amount of discussions boards on the forum.
    Over the coming months we will continue to make more changes to make the forum more user friendly for all to use.
    Thanks, Admin.

Under-20 Competitions including Oceania & World U20s

WorkingClassRugger

Michael Lynagh (62)
I agree they could do a lot more with it (or maybe it's us, NZ and SA who really should be doing more) but it is a little tricky monetizing age grade rugby when it's not fully professional. Can easily stray onto exploitative territory. Definitely not an argument against though, more a reminder that they need to tread carefully.

SANZAAR should definitely be doing more. I actually think they should take some initiative here and set up a U20s Rugby Championship particularly leading into the JWC. Touring up north in November would also help.

I actually think there's a couple options here. The first, a U20s Pacific Cup/SRP (Super Rugby Pacific) but from our position running with abridged participation. More along the lines of what NZRU tried to squeeze by with us running only 3 'centres' being Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra. With Canberra drawing players from both Melbourne and Perth. Could be joined by the 5 NZ franchises. The 3 PIs and even Junior Japan. Run it alongside SRP (Super Rugby Pacific).

The other would be to do something I've suggested above locally with our SRP (Super Rugby Pacific) extended squads. Take the 5 'A' squads and run a schedule involving the U20s home and away for 10 games. Both would be followed by a U20s Rugby Championship already leading into the JWC.
 

Drew

Bob Davidson (42)
^ What ESPN scrum does or doesn't put on their site is beyond WR (World Rugby) (World Rugby)'s control I'd have thought.

I found it pretty easy to keep up with goings on by hitting the link to the tournament on WR (World Rugby) (World Rugby)'s landing page.
Yeah, badly worded from me. I was more thinking it’s unfortunate that an exciting tournament like this isn’t covered/promoted a bit better.
 

The Ghost of Raelene

Simon Poidevin (60)
Yeah, I commented that a few of our boys lack the size to contain others for 80mins. This is no reflection on their future or if they deserve their spot in this team. This has always been the case for our U20s tbh and finishing 5th is a strong result when I back us to beat England at full strength and the Junior Boks looked pretty shit from what I saw.

Who did they keep from a jersey that is a better player? We could pick the biggest team possible but they don’t play Rugby.
 

Love2Scrum

Watty Friend (18)
IMO the team lacked size and experience compared to the NH teams

The pathways need to be reconstructed.
The boys need to go through club land after school whether it be Colts or Grade rugby.

It’s almost like an apprenticeship as a plumber or an electrician etc… where you learn the tricks of the trade and experience from those who have been there done that.

From the rugby I’ve watched from U20’s through to rugby in general we’ve got a lot to learn from the NH teams.
 

Confucius Say

Colin Windon (37)
Size size size!
What about skill and instinct and smarts?
Our system is stuffed because of the size obsession and the selection of players who are big but can’t do the basics.
 

Confucius Say

Colin Windon (37)
The only difference is the NH play more rugby. Longer club seasons, longer school seasons and more rep games. We need more rugby so the skill improves. The junior wallabies competed with Ireland (were unlucky) and England and flogged Wales. So what NH teams are you speaking of?

France? Flogged everybody but England had them down by about 20 in the semi final.
 

The Ghost of Raelene

Simon Poidevin (60)
The last 5 years have been just that. The boys come out and get put in Club footy. Big difference between Club footy and the Top 14 or D2 though. This would also cull some of the Schoolboy talent who won’t kick on.

I’d say from 2005-2015ish we cotton willed the Aus schoolboys in Super rugby sides and they sat in suits for 3 years and then we would debut them and wonder why they weren’t up to it. If you look at team sheets from the first half of this years premier grades around the country almost all of these boys were playing every week if not on the bench for Super Rugby.
 

Wallaby Man

Nev Cottrell (35)
I’d seriously worry about our future if some 19/20yr old good enough for the junior wallabies was playing colts. That’s not a ringing endorsement of their talents.

We need to somehow understand the narrative over here isn’t the actual reality. Our players and especially our youth play more amateur rugby than almost any other nation. Perhaps the Argentines are the only ones that match at a young age, but that all quickly stops when they move overseas to play and pretty sure they all sit in a national academy for large portions of the year. Perhaps this might actually be the issue why we aren’t progressing as a nation quicker than others.

On saying this perhaps how good have the guys done considering they aren’t getting the same pro experiences the others are getting?
 
Top Bottom