Australian Youth Rugby Championships

The Under-19s Rugby Championship, known as URC, is an Australian rugby union competition for men's youth teams, forming 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]

 
URC logo introduced in 2018
SportRugby union
Inaugural season2014 (National U20s)
2016 (Super U20s)
2018 (URC)
CountryAustralia
HoldersBrisbane City (2018)

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]

Logo for 2016–2017.

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
Winner Score Runner-up
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]

See also

References
  1. "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.
  2. 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.
  3. "NSW Win 2014 National U20 Championship". Australian Rugby. 27 March 2014. Archived from the original on 28 February 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. Gardiner, James (28 January 2014). "Country calls on Hunter talents". Newcastle Herald. Archived from the original on 28 February 2015.
  8. Decent, Tom (17 February 2016). "Super Rugby 2016: ARU announces weekly U20s competition". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax. Archived from the original on 17 February 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  9. "NSW wins National Under 20s Championship for second consecutive year". Australian Rugby. 25 March 2015. Archived from the original on 25 March 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  10. "Super U20s Championship to kick off in 2016". Australian Rugby. 17 February 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
  11. "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.
  12. "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.
  13. "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.
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