The Super Rugby Next Gen, formerly known as Super Rugby U19s, and sometimes referred to as the Australian Youth Rugby Championships, is an Australian rugby union competition for men's youth teams that forms part of the pathway for selection to the Australia under-20 team. The competition is organised by Rugby Australia (RA).
History National U20s The first National U20 Rugby Championship was played in 2014, and was contested by teams from New South Wales, Queensland and an Australian Barbarians side (selected from the other states and territories). National under-20 teams from the Pacific islands were also invited to play matches.
The competition was played over two stages, with a Southern States U20 Championship held in March for teams from ACT, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory, as well as New South Wales Country and Queensland Country. A representative team from that tournament was selected to participate in the National U20 Championship's top division.
Super U20s The Super Under 20s Championship was launched in 2016, with teams from Australia's five Super Rugby franchises competing. Matches were scheduled as curtain-raisers to home games hosted by the Super Rugby teams, with the tournament played as a single round-robin followed by a final between the top two sides to determine the champion team.
U19s Rugby Championship In 2018 the competition was changed to an Under-19 championship played six months earlier in the lead in to the campaign for the Oceania and World Rugby tournaments.
Teams The teams playing in the Under-19s Rugby Championship are:
Australian Barbarians U19 Brisbane City U19 Brumbies U19 Melbourne Rebels U19
NSW Country U19 Queensland Country U19 Sydney U19 Western Australia U19
Following the tournament, an initial squad for the Junior Wallabies team is selected from the best players. The Australian team competes in the Oceania U20 and World Rugby U20 championships.
Champions Year # ofTeams Final Winner Score Runner-upNational Under 20s Championship 2014 4 New South Wales roundrobin Queensland 2015 5 New South Wales roundrobin Queensland Super Under 20s Championship 2016 5 Queensland 35–5 Melbourne Rebels 2017 5 Queensland 49–19 New South Wales U19s Rugby Championship 2018 8 Brisbane City 41–7 Queensland Country 2019 8Brisbane City 43–19 Sydney Tournaments cancelled between 2020–2021 due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. 2022 5 New South Wales QueenslandSuper Rugby U19s20235 New South Wales20246 Queensland20254 New South Wales Super Rugby Next Gen 2026 4 TBC – TBC
See also
Australia national under-20 rugby union team Oceania Under 20 Rugby Championship World Rugby Under 20 Championship
Notes
References
External links 2015 National U20 Championship official ARU homepage