U20 Rugby Championship 2025

[Bovidae]

The officials for the first four games.

New Zealand vs Australia at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Gqeberha - 14h00
Referee: Christopher Allison (SARU)
Assistant Referees: Thomas Bertazza (Arg), Phumzile Mbewu
Television Match Official: Ben Crouse

South Africa vs Argentina at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Gqeberha - 16h10
Referee: Todd Petrie (NZ)
Assistant Referees: George Myers (Aus), Sean Muller
Television Match Official: Ben Crouse

New Zealand vs Argentina at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Gqeberha - 14h00
Referee: George Myers (Aus)
Assistant Referees: Christopher Allison (SARU), Sean Muller
Television Match Official: Quinton Immelman

South Africa vs Australia at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Gqeberha - 16h10
Referee: Thomas Bertazza (Arg)
Assistant Referees: Todd Petrie (NZ), Phumzile Mbewu
Television Match Official: Quinton Immelman

[Mauss]

HT score: 17-10 in favour of Australia U20s. More than deserved as well, the NZ U20s are suffering from poor ball-retention (breakdown, lineout) as well as ill discipline. The attack looks okay in phase play but they've had too few opportunities in the opposition 22 due to turnovers.

Two tries were disallowed for the NZ U20s but both decisions were correct (2 knock ons). Letiu has been poor, unfortunately, so Oudenryn might make an earlier appearance than intended. The NZ U20 defence, after a very poor start, has improved but there's massive gaps in the defensive line as well as a poorly-organized pillar defence.

The NZ U20s will have the breeze in their back in the second half, so an opportunity to play for a bit more territory.

[Tim]

Is the game streaming anywhere?

[Mauss]

@Tim Should be on Sky Sport NZ. Also on Stan and SuperSport.

[Tim]

Streaming on Rugby Pass TV:

May 1

New Zealand vs Australia

[Mauss]

Nice strike play off the lineout. Better start to the NZ U20s in the second half. 22-17 to NZ.

[Mauss]

Simpson has put in some excellent kicks during this game. One of the better players for NZ so far.

[Tim]

Huge gaps provided by NZ defence there. Especially with a man advantage.

[Mauss]

@Tim There's a lot of confusion about defensive assignments. Kunawave has been shooting up, clearly under instruction, but often it's been at the wrong times.

[Tim]

Why is the tournament played on real paddocks in SA every year?

[Mauss]

Why on earth would you take the scrum when Ahloo flopped to the floor in the previous scrum? Terrible decision-making.

[akan004]

NZ with a 2 man advantage decide to kick the ball away. Our players seriously lack intelligence at all levels.

[Mauss]

@Mauss said in U20 Rugby Championship 2025:

Simpson has put in some excellent kicks during this game.

Apologies to Rico for the jinx.

[Tim]

You can use your hand to push the ball back into the scrum?

[akan004]

NZ's lineout had been atrocious all game. Might cost us the game.

[Mauss]

Yikes. Complete the lineout, that's all..

[akan004]

Not sure how we are in this position when we had a two man advantage at one stage.

[Mauss]

To me, there was a pretty clear shift in momentum. After the penalty try to NZ made it 29-17, Sinton kicked the ball out on the full. Australia scored quickly afterwards and the game shifted back in their favour.

Couple that with the poor decision to go for the scrum on the Australian 5 metre-line, and all you can really say is that a draw is probably a fair result.

[W32]

Fair result for the game. Enjoyed it

[Bovidae]

As I thought the scrum is a concern, particularly at LH. Ahloo used to be a TH prop. NZ threw that game away with some bad misses in the lineout at the end. Oudenryn just needed to throw to the front - game over. There could be some injuries from the game too.