Australian Youth Rugby Championships

	Logo introduced in 2018
Sport	Rugby union
Inaugural season	2014 (National U20s)
Country	Australia
Holders	New South Wales (2022)

The Under-19s Rugby Championship is an Australian rugby union competition for men's youth teams that forms part of the pathway for selection to the Junior Wallabies. The competition is hosted annually by Rugby Australia and players must meet an under-19 age requirement. Previously, this tournament was played closer in time to the World Junior Championship and used an under-20 age requirement.^[1]

History

National U20s

The first National U20 Rugby Championship was played in 2014,^[2]^[3] and was contested by teams from New South Wales, Queensland and an Australian Barbarians side (selected from the other states and territories). National under-20 teams from the Pacific islands were also invited to play matches.^[4]^[5]

The competition was played over two stages, with a Southern States U20 Championship held in March for teams from ACT, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory, as well as New South Wales Country and Queensland Country.^[6] A representative team from that tournament was selected to participate in the National U20 Championship's top division.^[7]

Super U20s

The Super Under 20s Championship was launched in 2016, with teams from Australia's five Super Rugby franchises competing.^[8] Matches were scheduled as curtain-raisers to home games hosted by the Super Rugby teams, with the tournament played as a single round-robin followed by a final between the top two sides to determine the champion team.^[8]

U19s Rugby Championship

In 2018 the competition was changed to an Under-19 championship played six months earlier in the lead in to the Junior Wallabies campaign for the Oceania and World Rugby tournaments.^[1]

Teams

The teams playing in the Under-19s Rugby Championship are:

Following the tournament, an initial squad for the Junior Wallabies team is selected from the best players. The Australian team competes in the Oceania U20 and World Rugby U20 championships.

Champions

Year	# of Teams	Final			Refs
Year	# of Teams	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Refs
National Under 20s Championship
2014	4	New South Wales	round robin	Queensland	^[3]
2015	5	New South Wales	round robin	Queensland	^[9]
Super Under 20s Championship
2016	5	Queensland	35–5	Melbourne Rebels	^[10]
2017	5	Queensland	49–19	New South Wales	^[11]
U19s Rugby Championship
2018	8	Brisbane City	41–7	Queensland Country	^[12]
2019	8	Brisbane City	43–19	Sydney	^[13]
Tournaments cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic ^[14]
2022	5	New South Wales	44–31	Queensland	^[15]
2023	5	Australian Capital Territory	20–12	New South Wales	^[16]

References

^ ^a ^b "U20s pathway flipped for 2018 and beyond". Rugby.com.au. 4 May 2018. Archived from the original on 4 May 2018. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
^ Grant, Lee (15 January 2014). "New Aussie Competitions—Part II: National Under 20 Competition". Green and Gold Rugby. Archived from the original on 28 February 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
^ ^a ^b "NSW Win 2014 National U20 Championship". Australian Rugby. 27 March 2014. Archived from the original on 28 February 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
^ Dutton, Chris (9 November 2013). "Staniforth heads young guns list". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax. Archived from the original on 14 November 2013. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
^ Findlay, Matt (19 February 2015). "Country colts (then maybe Australia call-ups) for Orange rugby trio". Central Western Daily. Archived from the original on 28 February 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
^ Taylor, Nick (3 November 2014). "WA rugby thriving: Force chief". The West Australian. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
^ Gardiner, James (28 January 2014). "Country calls on Hunter talents". Newcastle Herald. Archived from the original on 28 February 2015.
^ ^a ^b Decent, Tom (17 February 2016). "Super Rugby 2016: ARU announces weekly U20s competition". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax. Archived from the original on 6 June 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
^ "NSW wins National Under 20s Championship for second consecutive year". Australian Rugby. 25 March 2015. Archived from the original on 1 April 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
^ "Super U20s Championship to kick off in 2016". Australian Rugby. 17 February 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
^ "Queensland win second straight U20s National Championship". Green and Gold Rugby. 2 April 2017. Archived from the original on 2 April 2017. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
^ "URC: Cool-hand Lucas steers Brisbane City to under 19s national crown". rugby.com.au. 5 October 2018. Archived from the original on 5 October 2018. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
^ "Brisbane City win back-to-back URC titles". rugby.com.au. 12 October 2019. Archived from the original on 13 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
^ Williamson, Nathan (26 September 2022). "Rugby Australia confirms expanded national U16 and U19 Championships". rugby.com.au. Archived from the original on 13 November 2022.
^ "Tahs topple Reds in National Championship Grand Final showdown". The Courier–Mail. 13 November 2022. Archived from the original on 13 November 2022.
^ Williamson, Nathan (5 November 2023). "ACT Brumbies take out Super Rugby U19s, Waratahs claim Super Rugby U16s | Latest Rugby News | RUGBY.com.au". www.rugby.com.au. Retrieved 5 November 2023.