The World Rugby U20 Championship 2016 will take place in Manchester, England from 7-25 June and involve 12 teams: defending champions New Zealand, hosts England, Argentina, Australia, France, debutants Georgia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Scotland, South Africa and Wales.
Here are some fun stats and information about the tournament:
- The tournament was previously known as the IRB Junior World championship.
- 3 Nations have won the tournament, England (2013 and 2014) South Africa (2012) and New Zealand (2008-11,2015).
- Since its inception in 2008 there have been over 100 players who have played in the junior rugby championship going on to represent their countries senior teams at international level.
- Jan Serfontein(2012) and Handre Pollard (2014) both won World Rugby Junior Player of the year
- All 17 nations that have taken part in the tournament have had a least one player go on to represent their country at test level.
- Current well known international players that represented their nation at the World Rugby U20 Championship include:
- New Zealand: Sam Whitelock, Julian Savea, Sam Cane, Brodie Retallick and Aron Smith
- Australia: David Pocock, Will Genia, Quade Cooper.
- South Africa: Patrick Lambie, Jan Serfontein, Handre Pollard
- Others: Sam Warburton and Leigh Halfpenny( Wales), Conor Murray(Ireland), Ben Youngs and Courtney Laws (England)
- South Africa conceded just 3 tries when they won the tournament in 2012.
- The record for most individual points in a match is set by Pierre Bernard (France) against Wales in 2009. He scored 33 points.
- The biggest win in a game was South Africa versus USA in 2008.The final score was 108-18.
- Madison Hughes(USA) and Stefan Patrascu (Romania) hold the record for leading point scorers at the tournament with 82 points.
If you a rugby fan and want to place some bets, read our rugby betting tips or place your rugby bets here.
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