U20 Rugby Championship 2025
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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.
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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.
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@Bovidae said in U20 Rugby Championship 2025:
Oudenryn just needed to throw to the front - game over.
Tengblad is the caller, so the onus falls on him to not overcomplicate the call. I do think both hookers were guilty of underthrowing as well. A lot to fix.
The scrum, I don't see how that's going to correct itself this season. Pole and Faleafā did better than I expected but there's going to be refs who are going to penalize them heavily. Don't really think there's anyone to come back who can necessarily make a big difference in that regard either.
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What coaching experience do Jarrad Hoeata and Craig Dunlea even have? I understand Alex Robinson is at Canterbury NPC? Seems like an unusual weak coaching group for an NZ u20s team.
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That game was hard to watch. Set piece looks to be a complete lollie scramble. Look under done, as to be expected with ONE warm up game before this.
What our winger was doing shooting up every time, i will never know. If it is under instruction then why does everyone else on the field look confused as well.
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That was an abysmal performance, and serious questions should be asked about the coaching of youth rugby in NZ, because somehow we have turned up at an U20 Level, with Props who can't actually Prop a scrum - I understand how First XV level, but how is this occuring at a level where players potentially a rolling out for an ITM or Super level side if injuries strike?
After watching the recent U20 Tournament, you would also have to ask about the selection policy because players like Saunoa and Kunawave did not stand out, and there appeared to be better outside backs—I mean, Saunoa is clearly a physical specimen, but you scratch your head about what else he offers, and the less said about Kunawave and his defence and decision-making, the better.
This team will have some serious scores run up against it by the likes of England and France at the coming WC tournament—both those sides have forward packs that will take this NZ side to the cleaners—and when you watch the game, it's a real head-scratcher how, at this level, we have a forward pack that seems to lack the basic skill set required for this level.
Over the last couple of years, the one big weakness of the NZ U20 side has been our pack and its lack of core skills—scrummaging/line-out play, etc. This has frequently been shown up by the big Nth Packs. Now, it's pretty apparent from watching NZ vs. Oz games at U18 and U20 Levels over the past couple of years that Oz have now moved forward in terms of their player development.
It's not the players' fault, but there is a far bigger question around what the NZRFU is actually doing regarding core skill development for youth players. We seem to be years behind when you watch a 6 Nations U20 game.
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@Mauss said in U20 Rugby Championship 2025:
@Bovidae said in U20 Rugby Championship 2025:
Oudenryn just needed to throw to the front - game over.
Tengblad is the caller, so the onus falls on him to not overcomplicate the call. I do think both hookers were guilty of underthrowing as well. A lot to fix.
Treacy was at the front waiting for the throw in that lineout near halfway. Madness.
The scrum, I don't see how that's going to correct itself this season. Pole and Faleafā did better than I expected but there's going to be refs who are going to penalize them heavily. Don't really think there's anyone to come back who can necessarily make a big difference in that regard either.
Faleafa does have a tendency to collapse on the hit (see the first scrum), and there will be tougher scrums to face at the WC like Georgia and Italy. Hopefully Wallace is over his foot injury and available, and I still would have selected Palmer as one of the LHs. I also note that Tengblad is the LH lock in the scrum. With his size I would have thought he would be packing behind the TH prop.
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@KiwiInLondon Hoeata has been an assistant coach for Taranaki for a while, and involved at the Chiefs (Dev side, U20s).
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@MJonesfan what’s scary is this is your next crop of Super Rugby players .
Agree with most of what you are saying I watched many of the games played at the recent Super Rugby Pacific U20 Rugby tournament played in Taupo , in most cases defence was optional all playing a similar style
Ironically I was at a funeral yesterday had good chat with Adrian Choat , he was in the last NZ team that won the title back in 2017 which ironically still has the most successful number of players that went on to become full Super Rugby professionals and All Blacks
Adrian also mentioned he was off contract with the Blues at the end of the season
