World Rugby U20 Championship 2025: match round 1 preview

Can promoted Scotland stand the heat against champions England?

Back in the big time after winning the World Rugby U20 Trophy 2024, Scotland have been training in special heat chambers in preparation for the sweltering temperatures the teams expect to face. And they will need all the help they can get in the so-called ‘pool of death’.

Scotland start against defending champions England, minus openside flanker Henry Pollock, rugby’s breakout star of 2025, who has gone from World Rugby U20 Championship star to British and Irish Lions tourist in the space of a year. Scotland do have a star of their own in the No.7 shirt, however, co-captain Freddy Douglas having made his debut for the senior men’s team against Portugal in November.

Judging by the 2025 U20 Six Nations, when Scotland lost 57-13, it won’t be enough to beat England, a team packed with English Premiership stars. This includes flying winger Tyler Offiah – son of rugby league legend Martin – who made his debut for Bath this season.
England v Scotland, Pool A, 15:30 (CET)

Junior Wallabies on the up but face Springbok counterparts with a point to prove

Perhaps the most eye-catching of the opening round of games. South Africa will have revenge on their minds after going down 29-24 to Australia in the 2025 U20 Rugby Championship having led 17-0. The Junior Springboks will also be looking to make up for a disappointing World Rugby U20 Championship 2024, where they could only manage a seventh-place finish on home soil.

Australia, meanwhile, missed out on the chance to reach the semi-finals when their pool match against Ireland was rained off. They are a team on the rise, however, going unbeaten in the 2025 U20 Rugby Championship, losing out on the title to New Zealand on points difference after a draw between the two teams. The Junior Wallabies feature Queensland Reds star Dre Pakeho in the centre and also welcome sevens stars Aden Ekanayake and Sid Harvey back into in the squad.
Australia v South Africa, Pool A, 15:30 (CET)

Rugby’s irresistible superpower against the sport’s rising force

With impressive results across all formats, age groups and both genders in recent years, there’s no double Spanish rugby is on the up. And no country will understand more than trans-Pyrenees neighbours France, with seven Spaniards plying their trade across the border in the Top 14. While that is unlikely to be enough to beat Les Bleuets – who won last year’s pool match between the two 49-12 – Spain will take confidence from the play-off victory over Fiji which ensured they will remain in the World Rugby U20 Championship for only the second year.

For France, it is all about regaining the title they won for three tournaments in a row before they lost last year’s final to England – who also beat them in the 2025 Six Nations, albeit France were champions after England’s shock defeat to Wales.
France v Spain, Pool B, 18:00 (CET)

Georgia await as Ireland look to put disappointing Six Nations behind them

With 12 wins against major rugby nations to their name, Georgia should not be underestimated at under-20 level, even though their best finish at the World Rugby U20 Championship is eighth in 2023. They even beat would-be champions England just weeks before the 2024 tournament, putting the Junior Lelos firmly in the ‘banana skin’ category for an Ireland team coming off the back of their worst-ever Six Nations, with just one win from five matches and an inability to put enough points on the board.

It's a far cry from this time last year when Ireland reached the semi-finals of this tournament, where they led England at half-time before going down 31-20. Ireland certainly won’t take Georgia lightly, though, having lost in the pool stage to them in 2018 and needing an injury-time try to prevail in another group game between the two teams last year.
Ireland v Georgia, Pool B, 18:00 (CET)

Can Argentina and Wales find consistency against the top teams?

Size matters in rugby. Just ask Wales, their men’s team’s recent record run of defeats underpinned, according to most experts, by a lack of power, particularly in the forwards. No such problems for their current batch of U20s, who boast several giants up front, including Exeter Chiefs’ 207cm, 117kg second-row Luke Evans.

Head coach Richard Whiffin believes his balanced squad can mix it with the biggest and best teams this summer, no doubt buoyed by Wales U20s’ backs-to-the-wall victory against England in the 2025 U20 Six Nations, denying their rivals across the Severn Bridge a Grand Slam in the process.

First up, they face an Argentina team who finished fourth in the 2025 U20 Rugby Championship, close defeats against South Africa and Australia coming either side of a thrashing by the All Blacks. But Los Pumitas come into this tournament off the back of four warm-up victories, and hoping to build on last year’s fifth place.
Argentina v Wales, Pool C, 20:30 (CET)

Hosts looking to shock Junior All Blacks who arrive under a coaching cloud

When Jono Gibbes left his role as head coach to join Chiefs in Super Rugby, New Zealand U20s seemed to have found the perfect replacement in Milton Haig, especially after the experienced globetrotter led the Baby Blacks to the 2025 U20 Rugby Championship title, albeit on points difference after they conceded an injury-time try to draw with Australia. But Haig departed soon after, saying he didn’t feel “fully aligned” with the rest of his coaching group.

All of which makes the opening game against hosts Italy look even more difficult. The Azzurrini have beaten all the big teams apart from New Zealand and England at U20 level but have never been able to string these results together. There would be no better time, with men’s senior captain Michele Lamaro, who led the team at the World Rugby U20 Championship 2018, urging the class of 2025 to “fully embrace the moment”.
New Zealand v Italy, Pool C, 20:30 (CET)

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