Sanzaar on Thursday announced a new U20 Rugby Championship which will kick off in Australia next year.
Following a swak U20 World Championship in Cape Town earlier this month where only South Africa made the semifinals of the southern hemisphere teams, SA, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina put koppe bymekaar to set up the new tournament.
Kicking off in Australia’s Gold Coast in April next year, the annual tournament will see each team play against each other once. The team who tops the table at the end of the round-robins is the winner.
SANZAAR launches new U20 Championship: "This is exciting news and we are looking forward to three tough games against talented opposition" - more here: https://t.co/xqPM3cVjRq 👍#JuniorBoks #JourneyToGreatness pic.twitter.com/mIWMW9ZOni
— Junior Springboks (@JuniorBoks) July 20, 2023
SA Rugby’s director of rugby Rassie Erasmus says it was important for Sanzaar to create the tournament, after it became apparent that the northern hemisphere’s U20 teams had an advantage after playing in their U20 Six Nations tournament.
Erasmus says: “We’ve been trying for a long time to organise more competitive matches for the Junior Springboks as lack of quality game time is something we’ve identified as lacking from the U20 programme.
“It was clear that the Six Nations teams participating in this year’s World Rugby U20 Championship came into the tournament better prepared for the rigours of international rugby.
“Nothing prepares a player better for top-level competition than regular exposure to match situations, and there isn’t a better way to do this, than to play. We are very excited about this new competition and would like to commend Sanzaar for putting it together.”
Junior Springboks coach Bafana Nhleko adds in the statement released by SA Rugby yesterday: “This is exciting news and we are looking forward to three tough games against talented opposition. It’s a good opportunity for players to affirm their places in the squad, and to test our systems as we build cohesion and momentum for the World Rugby U20 Championship.
“This initiative is an important development for the Sanzaar teams’ pathway programmes, not only as match preparation for the World Championship, but it’s also a life experience for the players to travel to different countries and experience different environments and cultures…”