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<\/p>\nAustralia U20 head coach Chris Whitaker has revealed a 30-man squad for their Junior World Championship campaign in Georgia.<\/p>\n
The squad will assemble in Sydney next Wednesday before flying out to Kutaisi, Georgia, where they will play all of their three Pool D group games.<\/p>\n
The squad consists of 27 players in Super Rugby programs, two Australian Sevens members and two overseas-based players.<\/p>\n
Queensland Reds flanker Tom Robinson will retain the captaincy from the recent Rugby Championship U20.<\/p>\n
The Australia U20s will start the World Championship against Spain in the early hours of Sunday 28 June before taking on Fiji and then closing out the group against U20 Six Nations winners, France.<\/p>\n
The four pool winners will progress to the semi-finals, while second-placed teams will compete for fifth to eighth place. Third and fourth-placed teams will contest rankings from ninth to 12th and 13th to 16th respectively, with seedings based on pool-stage competition points.<\/p>\n
The Junior World Championship 2026 will also mark a significant step forward in player welfare, becoming the first international competition to feature a trial of lowering the legal tackle height. The initiative, designed to enhance safety and reduce head contact, builds on successful trials at community and domestic levels.<\/p>\n
The selection of Lehopo Leota [pictured below] and Kingbenjamin Swerling-Finaipepe for the Australia U20s has also laid the groundwork for keeping a host of overseas players connected to the gold jersey.<\/p>\n
That’s the view of coach Chris Whitaker as he calls in the monster front-row pair for the upcoming Junior World Championship.<\/p>\n
It’s the first time the junior program has selected overseas players for the Championship event.<\/p>\n
Leota (Racing 92) and Swerling-Finaipepe (Castres) are two of several young stars plying their trades within the European academies, with Leota even making his Top 14 debut late last year.<\/p>\n
Both were signed straight out of the Queensland system, Leota featuring for the Queensland U16s and 19s, while Swerling-Finaipepe played for University of Queensland Colts in 2024 and 2025, plus three first-grade games at just 18 last year.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Former Australia U18s star Heinz Lemoto is another big-name prospect in France, sitting out of the Championship after a long-term shoulder injury derailed his 2026 season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a number of Aussie players overseas and I think it\u2019s two-fold in the sense of keeping these kids connected to the game in Australia and the dream of playing for the Wallabies and the gold jersey whilst allowing us to fill in bits and pieces in areas for us,\u201d Whitaker said to\u00a0Rugby.com.au.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year it\u2019s the front-row where we\u2019ve had a couple of injuries there with a few out so the guys over there have played a lot of footy in the top grades and the Top 14, they\u2019re becoming pretty important for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe big thing for us is Lehopa and Kingbenjamin flying straight in from France and working on how we\u2019re going to get them into the system as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whitaker is forming deep ties to these players overseas, drawing on his connections from his time playing in Ireland and coaching in France.<\/p>\n
It’s part of an extensive support unit that has been set up to ensure the teenagers are looked after away from home, whilst keeping them connected to what’s happening in Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve started up a group chat with all the boys, just to make sure there\u2019s a connection with those kids in England and France to make sure they\u2019re okay and they have the support they need<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to keep that connection to the guys, just to let them know that we\u2019re still watching their games and our analysts cut up their games every week, so we know how they\u2019re playing and going.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn top of that, the Wallabies physio, Byron [Field], is over there at the moment doing the rounds to make sure they\u2019re ok and on the injury side of things, ensuring their prehab is doing well and they\u2019re on track to get back on the field as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a concerted effort from not just the 20s but from above to keep that connection with the gold jersey and making sure they know it\u2019s there.\u201d<\/p>\n
This connection continues at the state level as well, with the Queensland Reds eager to bring them back home to pull on the maroon jersey at some stage.<\/p>\n
“Both boys were a part of the Queensland Reds pathway programs. (Reds forwards coach) Zane Hilton and I enjoyed a catch up with Lehopo when he was last home at the end of last year,” said former Wallaby Paul Carozza, the Queensland Reds Head of Talent Management.<\/p>\n
“We are keen to stay in touch with the Queensland pathway boys and we will with Kingbenjamin when the chance arises.<\/p>\n
“I hope he comes back to the Reds just so we can have his name on the big screen at Suncorp Stadium.”<\/p>\n
Australia U20 Squad:<\/p>\n
ACT Brumbies
\n\tEwald Kruger – Hooker
\n\tEli Langi – Backrow
\n\tChayse Geros – Scrumhalf\/Fullback<\/p>\n
Queensland Reds
\n\tJacob Job – Prop
\n\tCharles Hollyman – Hooker
\n\tJohn Grenfell – Hooker
\n\tKenneth Harris – Lock
\n\tWilliam Ross – Lock
\n\tTom Robinson (c) – Backrow
\n\tFinn Mackay – Flyhalf
\n\tTaione Taka – Centre\/Wing
\n\tTreyvon Pritchard – Centre\/Fullback<\/p>\n
NSW Waratahs
\n\tEdwin Langi – Prop
\n\tMatthew Sauao – Prop
\n\tIsaac Fonua – Backrow\/Lock
\n\tToby Brial – Backrow\/Lock
\n\tLuca Cleverley – Backrow
\n\tMarshall Le Maitre – Backrow
\n\tTJ Talaileva – Backrow
\n\tAngus Grover – Scrumhalf
\n\tSam Blank – Scrumhalf
\n\tJonty Fowler – Flyhalf
\n\tZach Fittler – Centre
\n\tLeo Jaques – Centre\/Wing
\n\tCharlie Bird – Centre\/Fullback
\n\tTom Farr-Jones – Wing<\/p>\n
Australian Sevens
\n\tCooper Watters – Wing
\n\tWallace Charlie (Western Force) – Wing\/Fullback<\/p>\n
Overseas-based
\n\tKingbenjamin Swerling-Finaipepe (Castres) – Prop
\n\tLehopoame Leota (Racing 92) – Prop<\/p>\n
Unavailable for Selection
\n\tBennett Armistead (Reds, injury)
\n\tKingsley Uys – (Reds, injury)
\n\tNicholas Conway (Reds, injury)
\n\tJustice Taumoepeau (Waratahs, injury)
\n\tNick Hill – (Waratahs, injury)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia U20 head coach Chris Whitaker has revealed a 30-man squad for their Junior World Championship campaign in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-729183","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\/729183","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=729183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}