The United States national under-20 rugby union team is the United States' junior rugby team at the national level. The U-20 team has competed at the Junior World Championship and at several World U20 Trophy tournaments.
History The U20 program was originally a U19 team. With the decision by the International Rugby Board to merge their U19 and Under 21 Rugby World Championships to form the IRB Junior World Championship for U20 players effective as of the 2008 season, the team evolved into a U20 team to participate in the new competitions.
The first competition for the U20 team was on June 6, 2008, against South Africa. The United States won the 2012 IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy under head coach Scott Lawrence.
Results Junior World Championship Year Pld Win Draw Loss PF PA Diff Finish 2008 5 0 0 5 68 240 –172 16th place 2009Did not qualify 2010 2011 2012 2013 3 0 0 3 3 251 –248 12th place 2014Did not qualify 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020–2022Tournament canceled 2023Did not qualify 2024 2025 2026 5 1 0 4 136 305 −169 15th place
World U20 Trophy Year Pld Win Draw Loss PF PA Diff Finish 2008Competed in the Championship 2009 4 2 0 2 138 97 +41 Runners-up 2010Did not qualify 2011 4 1 0 3 82 152 –70 7th 2012 4 4 0 0 149 82 +67 Champions 2013Did not competed 2014 4 3 0 1 98 63 +33 Third place 2015Did not qualify 2016 4 2 0 2 124 106 +26 5th 2017Did not qualify 2018 2019 2020–2022Tournament canceled 2020–2022 due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic 2023 4 1 0 3 128 133 –5 7th 2024 4 3 0 1 116 113 +3 Runners-up 2026Competed in the Championship
Current squad Match day squad for the 2023 World Rugby U20 Trophy qualifier against Canada. 1 Thomas Wagner University of New South Wales (UNSW)2 Cade Crist University of California - Berkeley3 Connor Devos Lindenwood University4 Dylan Fortune Lindenwood University5 Will Sherman UCLA6 Cameron McAlpine United Kingdom7 Hayden McKay Young Glory (Old Glory DC)8 Aidan Christians USA Hawks9 Cormac Saint University of California - Berkeley10 Hugh O'Kennedy Trinity College - Dublin11 Sosaia Pongi St. Mary's College of California12 Aki Pulu American Raptors13 Dominic Besag St. Mary's College of California14 Corbin Smith Hartpury University15 Steffan Crimp Cardiff Metropolitan UniversitySubstitutions:16 Gabriel Hayden (No. 24) Canterbury RFC (UK)17 Trevion Reed (No. 25) Queens University18 Leon Best Life University19 Logan Ballinger Life University20 Henry Duke Unattached21 Oliver Cline Central Washington University22 Thomas Hannon Indiana University23 Aaron Faison Life UniversityCoach: Kyle Sumsion Management Kyle Sumsion - Head coach Colton Cariaga - Assistant coach Elvis Seveali'i - Assistant coach Neethling Gericke - Assistant coach Matoko Noudehou - Performance Coach George Janke - Performance Analyst Zach Fornier - Physiotherapist Gary McMahon - Team Manager
Notable players
Scoring leaders Madison Hughes - 82 points scored (including 12 penalties & 6 tries) in JWRT competitions.IRB JWRT, player statistics, http://www.irb.com/jwrt/statistics/playerStatistics.html Robert Johnson - 35 points scored (including 12 conversions) in JWRT competitions.IRB, Junior World Rugby Trophy, player statistics, http://www.irb.com/jwrt/statistics/playerStatistics.html Tai Enosa - 3 drop goals in JRWT competitions (tied for all-time lead among players from all countries).IRB, Junior World Rugby Trophy, player statistics, http://www.irb.com/jwrt/statistics/playerStatistics.html
Graduates to men's national team The following players, who have played for the U.S. youth team, have also gone on to represent the senior men's team in 15s or 7s:
Madison Hughes - A key player in the U.S. U20s to their first JWRT victory, scoring 100 points to become the all-time JWRT leading scorer. Hughes captained the U.S. Sevens team bound for the Rio 2016 Olympics. Todd Clever Mike Petri Takudzwa Ngwenya Tai Enosa - 2009 JWRT scored 23 ptshttp://www.irb.com/jwrt/teams/team=2606/player=35570/index.html Zack Test - 2009 JWRT scored 3 trieshttp://www.irb.com/jwrt/teams/team=2606/player=32424/index.html Peter Tiberio - 2009 JWRT started 3 matches Cam Dolan - 2009 JWRT team captainhttp://www.irb.com/jwrt/teams/team=2606/player=35569/index.html
See also United States national under-23 rugby union team (Collegiate All Americans)
References
External links www.usarugby.org