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New Zealand squad named for inaugural U20 Rugby Championship

(Photo by World Rugby via Getty Images)

The inaugural U20 Rugby Championship is set to kick off on the Sunshine Coast on May 2, and just like the senior tournament, New Zealand, Argentina, Australia and South Africa will have the chance to be crowned the best in the south.

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The New Zealand squad features 31 of the country’s finest young athletes, with selectors having identified plenty of promising talent at the recent U20 Super Rugby tournament played last month in Taupo.

While it was the Crusaders who won the tournament, it was Hurricanes loose forward Mosese Bason who took home the DJ Graham Medal as the best player in the tournament.

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Naturally, Bason has been named in the national squad which also features eight Crusaders players. Despite not making the final, the Hurricanes also boast eight representatives in the squad while the Blues have seven, the Chiefs have five and the Highlanders have three.

Three of the players have minutes in the NPC under their belt, 18 are on National Development contracts, six had featured in the 2023 national U20 squad and 21 are products of the national secondary schools programme.

“As a result of having a strong performance pathway established, we are able to assemble an exciting group of talented young men to represent New Zealand at the Rugby Championship Under 20 tournament next month,” head coach Jono Gibbes said.

“The tournament will be a great opportunity to test ourselves and gauge where we are, what we need to improve on before we embark on a competitive and tough Rugby World Championship later in the year.”

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The World Rugby U20 Championship takes place in South Africa from 29 June to 19 July. New Zealand is coming off back-to-back seventh-place finishes at the tournament.

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Gibbes emphasised his excitement for the level of talent in the 2024 squad and expressed appreciation for the high-performance programs across the country.

“Our selector network has been doing a huge amount of work in this space over the last six months. It has been a thorough and comprehensive process and one that is credit to their efforts.”

New Zealand Under 20 Squad: 

A-One Lolofie (Highlanders, Otago)
Andrew Smith (Chiefs, Waikato)
Ben O’Donovan (Crusaders, Canterbury)
Cameron Christie (Blues, North Harbour)
Cooper Grant (Crusaders, Tasman)
Dylan Pledger (Highlanders, Otago)
Frank Vaenuku (Chiefs, Bay of Plenty)
Giancarlo Tuivailala (Chiefs, Waikato)
Isaac Hutchinson (Crusaders, Canterbury)
Jeremiah Avei-Collins (Hurricanes, Wellington)
Jonathan Lee (Crusaders, Canterbury)
Josh Whaanga (Highlanders, Otago)
Joshua Smith (Hurricanes, Hawke’s Bay)
King Maxwell (Blues, Auckland)
Konradd Newland (Hurricanes, Hawke’s Bay)
Kurene Luamanuvae (Blues, Auckland)
Liam Jack (Crusaders, Canterbury)
Malachi Wrampling-Alec (Chiefs, Waikato)
Manumaua Letiu (Crusaders, Canterbury)
Matt Lowe (Crusaders, Tasman)
Mosese Bason (Hurricanes, Manawat?)
Rico Simpson (Blues, Auckland)
Sam Coles (Hurricanes, Manawat?)
Sika Pole (Blues, Auckland)
Stanley Solomon (Hurricanes, Wellington)
Toby Bell (Crusaders, Canterbury)
Tom Allen (Hurricanes, Hawke’s Bay)
Tristyn Cook (Blues, North Harbour)
Vernon Bason (Hurricanes, Manawat?)
William Martin (Chiefs, Waikato)
Xavi Taele (Blues, Auckland)

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Non-Travelling Reserves:
Logan Wallace (Hurricanes, Manawat?)
Nathaniel Pole (Blues, Auckland)
Riley Williams (Blues, Auckland)
Tai Cribb (Chiefs, Waikato)
Tofuka Paongo (Hurricanes, Wellington)

The final squad of 30 for the U20 World Rugby Championship in South Africa will be announced following the Rugby Championship Under 20 tournament.

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t
takata 1 hour ago
Can Les Bleus avoid a Black-wash in New Zealand?

Lost on the theory of why it would benefit a WC as well.

Where did I develop a theory about something benefiting the WC as well?!

It’s me lost 😊


I’m fully aware that French International players participation into Top 14, European Cups & 6 Nations will hinder their preparation for a WC. Its nothing new. Galthié & Co also noted that everything didn’t go the way it was planned in 2020 when he took over the national team. They had made detailed projections for players experience, number of caps, etc. that weren’t realistic in the long run to 2023 WC.


As for player welfare, since 2020, they have asked their players’ clubs to record and give them full data access to some set of metrics they had defined together concerning more than 120 targeted players (form U20 to senior players). Meanwhile, they were also frequently interviewing them in order to control their psychological state and motivation.


So I’m not particularly worried about Galthié’s ability to precisely know the real condition, mental & physical, of anyone he’s going to select to play for the team. From my humble level of observation, what I would guess about his current strategy, taking into account all those realistic limitations (game time, wellness, etc.) he is facing, is that he is trying to replicate for the national team what the clubs are doing in Top 14, in particular Toulouse (and now Bordeaux as well) since many seasons:


- drill as many quality players, as young as possible, to the core game plan and don’t build your team around individualities; then rotate players depending on who’s available for the day and keep the system flowing.

332 Go to comments
I
IkeaBoy 2 hours ago
Can Les Bleus avoid a Black-wash in New Zealand?

Forgive me, I meant BILLIONAIRES.


Altrad (Montpellier), Lorenzetti (Racing 92) & Wild (Stade Francais) have a combined NET worth of more than €10 billion! Altrad even gets to kit sponsor the national team despite the conflict of interest that would bring.


They are all cash cows as teams who go some length without winning major trophies still yield huge returns on the money their owners pump into them. The prize money is of little consequence even to serial winners. Any time they need a cash injection, they just hit up an investment partner.


Fiducial – the largest private shareholder in the league - has a 12% interest in Toulouse. They wouldn’t have to pay much in to get a cut of the €700 million broadcast deal, the bulk of which goes to the Top 14.  


Dupont – the league and indeed the games poster boy – is the product of rural dairy farmers rather fittingly as he is milked. His salary is a fraction of what he generates for his club, his country and for the sport.  Cash cow. And now recovering from his second major injury in as many years.


The clubs certainly don’t mess about when it comes to pumping money into the game but look at it in inflation terms.  It’s never at a higher rate year on year than the increase in their TV and broadcast deals. 


The club game has always been France’s priority. They got kicked out of the 5 Nations for almost 15 years because they paid players to play the game at club level despite its amateur status at the time. They were so very resistant to the eventual professionalism of the game. And openly so.


Their former Vichy government quite literally banned rugby league as a sport to clear the way for rugby union!


It’s a great league to watch and well supported but it’s a money league.  If you are going to mix metaphors and compare sports it’s not the French soccer league but the Saudi oil leagues that is a better comparison.  That’s what the Top 14 is in relative terms.


A lot of their current dealings around salary caps are shady. Proper shady. It was only a couple of seasons ago when Jaminet was ‘loaned’ 450K as a disguised payment to buy out his own contract to then move clubs. Interest free as well…

332 Go to comments
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