Details For South Africa Hosted 2024 World Rugby U20 Championship Announced – Pools, Teams & Law Trials

World Rugby confirmed the pools, dates and venues for the 2024 World Rugby U20 Championship which South Africa will once again host. The tournament will take place from 29 June to 19 July 2024 with the 12 top U20 men’s teams and trial new approved laws.

Updated 27 June 2024 – New Law Trials and Schedule Announced (Feature Photo – Captains from the participating teams of the World Rugby U20 Championship 2024 gather at the top of Cap Town Stadium in South Africa © World Rugby)

The showpiece tournament, first held in 2008, has together with the U20 Trophy tournament seen more than 1,550 players go on to make their Test debut after playing on this stage, including 32 Rugby World Cup winners.

World Rugby Chairman, Sir Bill Beaumont said of the tournaments: “The U20 pathway is at the heart of our ambition to develop competitiveness globally. Since their inception in 2008, the World Rugby U20 Championship and Trophy have provided exciting opportunities for the future stars of the game to express their talents and develop before reaching test level as well as a compelling spectacle for anyone interested in our game.”

This will also be the first international tournament to implement and trial new World Rugby Council-approved laws.

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World Rugby U20 Championship 2024 – Teams Return To South Africa 

The 12 best Under-20 sides in the world will return to South Africa as the World Rugby U20 Championship will again be hosted in the Western Cape, South Africa. Six matches to be played on the opening match-day (Saturday 29 June 2024).

The final will be played at DHL Stadium in Cape Town on 19 July 2024 and SA Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer said South Africa is looking forward to welcoming back the world’s best young players to the Western Cape.

The CEO added, “We have a proud history of successfully staging world-class events and we are extremely proud to be hosting the World Rugby U20 Championship for a second successive year in the Western Cape.

Despite the challenging weather we experienced at times during last winter’s successful tournament, our enthusiastic rugby supporters truly showed their passion for the game and eagerness to see the world’s best young players in action by turning out in numbers in Stellenbosch, Paarl and Cape Town.”

Law Trials – World Rugby U20 Championship 2024

World Rugby announced that the World Rugby U20 Championship 2024 will be the first international competition to feature the three new law amendments implemented to promote ball in flow and diversity of attacking options while supporting player welfare, and a package of six law trials will also operate, including the simplified red card sanction process, approved by the World Rugby Executive Board.

World Rugby added, “For the first time, both competitions will operate the full Head Injury Assessment (HIA) process and all players will have access to smart mouthguards, under the World Rugby-funded player welfare initiative.”

Photo Credit: World Rugby – France Are 2023 World Rugby U20 Championship Defending Champions

World Rugby U20 Championship 2024 Pools

The World Rugby U20 Championship 2024 will be played over five match days in Stellenbosch and Cape Town, with the participating teams grouped into three pools of four.

Three-time consecutive winners France are in Pool A with New Zealand, Wales and Spain. The latter will make their debut after winning the World Rugby U20 Trophy in 2023.

World Rugby U20 Championship 2023 runners-up Ireland are in Pool B with Australia, Georgia and Italy.

The hosts, the Junior Springboks, will look to improve upon their bronze in 2023 and face England, Argentina and Fiji in Pool C.

The 2023 rankings are in brackets

• Pool A: France (1), Wales (6), New Zealand (7), Spain (12)

France Captain Hugo Reus said: “We have a big team and great players, so I think we can win it for the third time in a row. We have been preparing for the tournament since the beginning of the year and going to camps, so hopefully our preparation will help us go all the way. South Africa is a beautiful country and we’re very lucky to be back here again.”

• Pool B: Ireland (2), Australia (5), Georgia (8), Italy (11)

Georgia Captain, Nika Lomidze added: “Our team has spent a long time together before coming to South Africa, so our preparation is very good for the tournament. We have great ambition this year because our team did very well last year, so we will work to do better than we did a year ago. We have a lot of players coming into the tournament for the first time so it has been difficult, but the senior guys have been helping them to get ready.”

• Pool C: South Africa (3), England (4), Argentina (9), Fiji (10)

South Africa Captain Zachery Porthen commented: “We have looked at our faults and things we struggled with at the U20 Rugby Championship in Australia, and we have been working hard to fix them. We have done quite a bit of training at camp the last three weeks. We look forward to having our home support cheering us on. That really helps us when things are not going your way. I’m a Cape Town boy, so it’s very special for me that I get to lead my team in my hometown.”

World Rugby U20 Championship 2024 Schedule & Venues

Venues: Danie Craven Stadium (Stellenbosch), Athlone Stadium & DHL Stadium (both in Cape Town)

The full match schedule can be found here.

Pool matches World Rugby U20 Championship 

• Matchday 1: Saturday, 29 June 2024
• Matchday 2: Thursday, 4 July 2024
• Matchday 3: Tuesday, 9 July 2024

Playoff matches – World Rugby U20 Championship 

• Matchday 4: Sunday,14 July 2024
• Matchday 5: Friday, 19 July (final and ranking matches)

How To Watch The World Rugby U20 Championship 2024

Matches at the World Rugby U20 Championship can be watched anywhere in Asia for free on RugbyPass TV.

Other local broadcast partners: South Africa (SuperSport), France (L’Équipe TV), New Zealand (Sky NZ) and Fiji (Fiji Broadcasting Corporation).

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