Australia U20 head coach Chris Whitaker has made six changes to his side that narrowly lost to New Zealand U20 in the opening match of the 2026 Rugby Championship.<\/p>\n
The Aussies will be looking to bounce back against hosts South Africa who impressed in their opening round win against Argentina U20.<\/p>\n
Zach Fittler comes into the starting side to replace the injured Frankie Goldsbrough with Queensland Reds centre Josh Takai brought into camp this week as cover.<\/p>\n
Luca Cleverley replaces Marshall Le Maitre in the starting XV with captain Tom Robinson moving to Openside Flanker.<\/p>\n
Taione Taka starts on the wing with Chayse Geros coming into the side in the #23 jersey.<\/p>\n
Whitaker has opted for a 6-2 bench split with Nick Hill and Toby Brial coming into the matchday squad for this round.<\/p>\n
Australia U20 team list v South Africa U20:<\/p>\n
1. Jacob Job
\n\t2. Ewald Kruger\u00a0
\n\t3. Edwin Langi
\n\t4.\u00a0Will Ross
\n\t5.\u00a0Isaac Fonua
\n\t6. Luca Cleverley
\n\t7.\u00a0Tom Robinson (c)
\n\t8.\u00a0Eli Langi
\n\t9.\u00a0Angus Grover
\n\t10.\u00a0Finn Mackay
\n\t11.\u00a0Taione Taka
\n\t12. Zach Fittler
\n\t13.\u00a0Leo Jaques
\n\t14.\u00a0Riley Whitfeld
\n\t15.\u00a0Louis Fenwicke<\/p>\n
Replacements:\u00a0 16. Tyler Maybery, 17. Nick Hill, 18. Jonah Rangiwai, 19. Kenneth Harris, 20. Toby Brial, 21. Marshall Le Maitre, 22. Jonty Fowler, 23.\u00a0Chayse Geros<\/p>\n
Junior Springbok head coach Kevin Foote has made a couple of rotational changes to the match-23 for their U20 Rugby Championship encounter against Australia at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The second-round encounter kicks off at 16h10 and will be broadcast live on SuperSport. The first match, between New Zealand and Argentina, starts at 14h00. Tickets, from only R35, are available here.<\/p>\n
The Junior Boks\u2019 starting pack show only one change from the side that impressed against Argentina in the opening round, with Wasi Vyambwera coming in at blindside flanker in place of Thomas Beling.<\/p>\n
Among the backs, Khuthadzo Rasivhaga is preferred to Lindsey Jansen on the left wing, and Akahluwa Boqwana gets the nod at fullback ahead of Alzeadon Felix.<\/p>\n
On the bench, Luan van der Berg (prop) fills the gap left by the injured Kai Pratt, while Gert Kemp will provide loose forward cover in the place of Risima Khosa, with Rasivhaga\u2019s spot amongst the replacements filled by Jade Muller as the reserve outside back<\/p>\n
According to Foote, the team enjoyed a productive week of preparation in the build-up to Sunday\u2019s meeting with Australia.<\/p>\n
We had a really good review of our performance against Argentina and, while we are very pleased with the result and the way the players performed on defence and attack for long periods of the match, there are obviously aspects of our game that need improvement,\u201d said Foote.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur focus is playing the full 80 minutes and ensuring that we stay on our game model to meet what will be a huge challenge against an Australian side that is well coached and who boasts strong skill sets across the park.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foote expressed the team\u2019s immense pride and excitement on returning to the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium for their second fixture. More than 10,000 specators attended the opening round of matches.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe support we received against Argentina last week was absolutely fantastic, and we are excited to be playing in front of the passionate Eastern Cape rugby fans once again,\u201d he said.
\n\t\u00a0
\n\tJunior Springbok team to face Australia in Gqeberha:<\/p>\n
15 \u2060Akahluwa Boqwana
\n\t14 \u2060Jack Benade
\n\t13 \u2060Samuel Badenhorst
\n\t12 \u2060Ethan Adams
\n\t11\u2060 Khuthadzo Rasivhaga
\n\t10 \u2060Yaqeen Ahmed
\n\t9 \u2060Hendr\u00e9 Schoeman
\n\t8\u2060 Kebotile Maake
\n\t7\u2060 Wasi Vyambwera
\n\t6 \u2060Luke Canon
\n\t5 \u2060Riley Norton (captain)
\n\t4\u2060 Heinrich Theron
\n\t3 \u2060Danie Kruger
\n\t2 \u2060Liam van Wyk
\n\t1 Rambo Kubheka<\/p>\n
Replacements: 16 \u2060Mahle Sithole, 17 \u2060Oliver Reid, 18 Luan van der Berg, 19 \u2060JD Hattingh, 20 \u2060Gert Kemp, 21 \u2060Jayden Brits, 22 \u2060Vusi Moyo, 23 \u2060Jade Muller<\/p>\n
The New Zealand Under 20 team has been named for their second match of the Under 20 Rugby Championship, where they will play Argentina in Gqerberha (Port Elizabeth), South Africa. Head Coach Kane Jury has made seven personnel changes to the team that started the first match of the tournament and a further three in the reserves.<\/p>\n
Two positional changes to the starting fifteen see loose forward Finn McLeod move from blindside to No.8 and Oliver Guerin shift from the right wing to centre.<\/p>\n
The New Zealand U20s started the defence of their Under 20 Rugby Championship title with a 34-29 win over Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The New Zealand U20 team to play Argentina is:<\/p>\n
1. \u00a0Ethan Webber (Highlanders, Otago)
\n\t2. \u00a0Josh Findlay (Crusaders, Canterbury)\u00a0
\n\t3. \u00a0Alex Hewitt (Hurricanes, Wellington)
\n\t4. \u00a0Alex Arnold (Highlanders, Otago)
\n\t5. \u00a0Jake Frost (Crusaders, Canterbury)\u00a0
\n\t6. \u00a0Logan Platt (Blues, Auckland)
\n\t7. \u00a0Kobe Brownlee (Crusaders, Tasman)
\n\t8. \u00a0Finn McLeod (Crusaders, Canterbury)
\n\t9. \u00a0Charlie Sinton (Chiefs, Bay of Plenty)
\n\t10. Mika Muliaina (Highlanders, Southland)
\n\t11. JD Van Der Westhuizen (Blues, North Harbour)
\n\t12. Haki Wiseman (Chiefs, Taranaki) \u00a0
\n\t13. Oliver Guerin (Chiefs, Waikato)
\n\t14. Jay Reihana (Highlanders, Southland)
\n\t15. Cohen Norrie (Blues, Auckland)<\/p>\n
Replacements: 16. \u00a0Luka Patumaka Makata (Blues, Auckland), 17. \u00a0Charlie Wallis (Blues, Auckland), 18. \u00a0Dane Johnston (Chiefs, Taranaki)\u00a0, 19. \u00a0Johnny Falloon (Hurricanes, Wellington), 20. \u00a0Micah Fale (Chiefs, Waikato), 21. \u00a0Boston Krone (Blues, Auckland), 22. \u00a0Angus Revell (Blues, Auckland), 23. \u00a0Logan Williams (Crusaders, Canterbury)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia U20 head coach Chris Whitaker has made six changes to his side that narrowly lost to New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-643682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}