World Rugby Under 20 Trophy

World Rugby Under 20 Trophy
Current season or competition: 2016 World Rugby Under 20 Trophy
Sport	Rugby union
Instituted	2008
Number of teams	8
Country	International (World Rugby)
Holders	Samoa (2016)

The World Rugby Under 20 Trophy (known as the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy until 2014) is an international rugby union competition. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, World Rugby, and is contested by 8 men's junior national teams with an under-20 age requirement. This event replaced the World Rugby's former age-grade world championships, the Under-19 and Under-21 World Championships.

The inaugural tournament was held in June 2008, hosted by Chile and with 8 teams participating.

The World Rugby Under 20 Trophy is the second level of the World Rugby tournament structure for under-20 national sides. At the same time that the Trophy was launched, World Rugby (then known as the International Rugby Board) also launched an upper-level championship, featuring 16 teams in 2008 and 2009 and a reduced format for 12 teams from 2010 and onwards.

Promotion and relegation between the Trophy and the Championship is in place. The winner of the Trophy will play in next year's Championship, while the last placed team at the Championship will be relegated to the Trophy for the next year.

History

The inaugural tournament was held in 2008, hosted by Chile, and won by Uruguay. World Rugby's decision that the United States would host the tournament in 2012 was viewed as the United States taking a step closer towards hosting the Rugby World Cup.^[1]

Tournament results

Year	Host		Final				Third place match
			Winner	Score	Runner-up		3rd place	Score	4th place
2008	Chile		Uruguay	20 – 8	Chile		Georgia	34 – 10	Romania
2009	Kenya		Romania	25 – 13	United States		Chile	19 – 17	Kenya
2010	Russia		Italy	36 – 7	Japan		Russia	23 – 20 (aet)	Romania
2011	Georgia		Samoa	31 – 24	Japan		Georgia	20 – 15	Uruguay
2012	United States		United States	37 – 33	Japan		Tonga	31 – 29	Georgia
2013	Chile		Italy	45 – 23	Canada		Chile	38 – 35	Japan
2014	Hong Kong		Japan	35 – 10	Tonga		United States	26 – 25	Uruguay
2015	Portugal		Georgia	49 – 24	Canada		Uruguay	44 – 43	Tonga
2016	Zimbabwe	Samoa	38 – 32 (aet)	Spain	Fiji	44 – 30	Namibia
2017	Uruguay

Team records

Team	Titles	Runners-up	Third-place	Fourth-place
Italy	2 (2010, 2013)	-	-	-
Samoa	2 (2011, 2016)	-	-	-
Japan	1 (2014)	3 (2010, 2011, 2012)	-	1 (2013)
United States	1 (2012)	1 (2009)	1 (2014)	-
Georgia	1 (2015)	-	2 (2008, 2011)	1 (2012)
Uruguay	1 (2008)	-	1 (2016)	2 (2011, 2014)
Romania	1 (2009)	-	-	-
Canada	-	2 (2013, 2015)	-	-
Chile	-	1 (2008)	2 (2009, 2013)	-
Tonga	-	1 (2014)	1 (2012)	1 (2016)
Spain	-	1 (2016)	-	-
Russia	-	-	1 (2010)	-
Fiji	-	-	1 (2016)	-
Kenya	-	-	-	1 (2009)
Namibia	-	-	-	1 (2016)

Participating nations

Team	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	Years
Canada	–	–	6th	5th	6th	2nd	7th	2nd	dnq		6
Cayman Islands	dnq	8th	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq		1
Chile	2nd	3rd	dnq	dnq	5th	3rd	dnq	dnq	dnq		4
Cook Islands	7th	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq		1
Fiji	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	5th	3rd		2
Georgia	3rd	dnq	dnq	3rd	4th	dnq	5th	1st	–	–	5
Hong Kong	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	8th	8th	7th		3
Italy	–	–	1st	–	–	1st	–	–	–	–	2
Jamaica	8th	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq		1
Japan	–	–	2nd	2nd	2nd	4th	1st	–	–	q	6
Kenya	dnq	4th	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq		1
Namibia	5th	5th	dnq	dnq	dnq	8th	6th	6th	4th	q	7
Papua New Guinea	dnq	6th	8th	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq		2
Portugal	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	6th	dnq	7th	dnq		2
Romania	4th	1st	4th	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq		3
Russia	dnq	dnq	3rd	6th	8th	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq		3
Samoa	–	–	–	1st	–	–	–	–	1st	–	2
South Korea	6th	7th	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq		2
Spain	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	dnq	2nd		1
Tonga	–	–	–	–	3rd	5th	2nd	4th	dnq		4
United States	–	2nd	dnq	7th	1st	–	3rd	dnq	5th		5
Uruguay	1st	–	5th	4th	dnq	7th	4th	3rd	6th	q	8
Zimbabwe	dnq	dnq	7th	8th	7th	dnq	dnq	dnq	8th		4
Total	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8

Legend

•    = Hosts
• 1st = Champions (promoted to IRB Junior World Championship)
• 1st = Champions (not promoted to IRB Junior World Championship)
• 2nd = Runners-up
• 3rd = Third place
• 4th = Fourth place
• – = Competed in the U20 Championship
• q = Qualified
• dnq = Did not qualify

Leading all-time players

Points

Points	Nation	Player
114	Georgia	Revaz Jinchvelashvili
82	United States	Madison Hughes
82	Romania	Stefan Patrascu
65	Canada	Conor McCann
54	Georgia	Bakhva Kobakhidze
54	Italy	Alberto Chillon

Updated June 9, 2013.

References

External links

• Official tournament site