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United States national under-20 rugby union team

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

United States U-20
UnionUSA Rugby
Nickname(s)Junior Eagles
Coach(es)Billy Millard
Top scorerMadison Hughes (82)
Team kit
Change kit
First international
 United States 18–108 South Africa South Africa
(June 6, 2008)
Largest win
United States United States 64–15 Cayman Islands Cayman Islands
(June 21, 2009)
Largest defeat
England England 109–0 United States United States
(June 13, 2013)
World Cup
Best result12th, 2013 IRB Junior World Championship

The United States national under-20 rugby union team, for sponsorship reasons known as the AIG Men's Junior All-Americans,[1] is the United States' junior rugby team at the national level. The U-20 team has competed at the IRB Junior World Championship and at several IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy tournaments.

History

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The U20 program was originally a U19 team.[2] With the decision by the International Rugby Board to merge their U19 and Under 21 Rugby World Championships to form the IRB Junior World Championship for U20 players effective as of the 2008 season, the team evolved into a U20 team to participate in the new competitions.

The first competition for the U20 team was on June 6, 2008, against South Africa. The United States won the 2012 IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy under head coach Scott Lawrence.

World Rugby Under 20 Championship and Trophy

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Junior World Championship/Trophy
Year Competition Pld Win Draw Loss PF PA Diff Finish
2008 Championship 5 0 0 5 68 240 –172 16th
2009 Trophy 4 2 0 2 138 97 +41 2nd
2010 Trophy DNQ
2011 Trophy 4 1 0 3 82 152 –70 7th
2012 Trophy 4 4 0 0 149 82 +67 1st
2013 Championship 3 0 0 3 3 251 –248 12th
2014 Trophy 4 3 0 1 98 63 +33 3rd
2015 Trophy DNQ
2016 Trophy 4 2 0 2 124 106 +26 5th
2017 Trophy DNQ
2018 Trophy DNQ
2019 Trophy DNQ
2023 Trophy 4 1 0 3 128 133 –5 7th
2024 Trophy 4 3 0 1 116 113 +3 2nd

Current squad

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Match day squad for the 2023 World Rugby U20 Trophy qualifier against Canada.[3]

1 Thomas Wagner University of New South Wales (UNSW)
2 Cade Crist University of California - Berkeley
3 Connor Devos Lindenwood University
4 Dylan Fortune Lindenwood University
5 Will Sherman UCLA
6 Cameron McAlpine United Kingdom
7 Hayden McKay Young Glory (Old Glory DC)
8 Aidan Christians USA Hawks
9 Cormac Saint University of California - Berkeley
10 Hugh O'Kennedy Trinity College - Dublin
11 Sosaia Pongi St. Mary's College of California
12 Aki Pulu American Raptors
13 Dominic Besag St. Mary's College of California
14 Corbin Smith Hartpury University
15 Steffan Crimp Cardiff Metropolitan University
Substitutions:
16 Gabriel Hayden (No. 24) Canterbury RFC (UK)
17 Trevion Reed (No. 25) Queens University
18 Leon Best Life University
19 Logan Ballinger Life University
20 Henry Duke Unattached
21 Oliver Cline Central Washington University
22 Thomas Hannon Indiana University
23 Aaron Faison Life University
Coach:
United States Kyle Sumsion

Management

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  • Kyle Sumsion - Head coach
  • Colton Cariaga - Assistant coach
  • Elvis Seveali'i - Assistant coach
  • Neethling Gericke - Assistant coach
  • Matoko Noudehou - Performance Coach

George Janke - Performance Analyst

  • Zach Fornier - Physiotherapist
  • Gary McMahon - Team Manager

Notable players

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Scoring leaders

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  • Madison Hughes - 82 points scored (including 12 penalties & 6 tries) in JWRT competitions.[4]
  • Robert Johnson - 35 points scored (including 12 conversions) in JWRT competitions.[5]
  • Tai Enosa - 3 drop goals in JRWT competitions (tied for all-time lead among players from all countries).[6]

Graduates to men's national team

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The following players, who have played for the U.S. youth team, have also gone on to represent the senior men's team in 15s or 7s:

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Men's Junior All-Americans". USA Rugby. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
  2. ^ "On the Under 20 team's next chapter". www.gainline.us. July 5, 2012. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
  3. ^ "USA Men's U20s look to close out qualification in second match of World Rugby Trophy". USA Rugby. Retrieved July 17, 2023.
  4. ^ IRB JWRT, player statistics, http://www.irb.com/jwrt/statistics/playerStatistics.html Archived March 24, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ IRB, Junior World Rugby Trophy, player statistics, http://www.irb.com/jwrt/statistics/playerStatistics.html Archived March 24, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ IRB, Junior World Rugby Trophy, player statistics, http://www.irb.com/jwrt/statistics/playerStatistics.html Archived March 24, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ http://www.irb.com/jwrt/teams/team=2606/player=35570/index.html [dead link]
  8. ^ http://www.irb.com/jwrt/teams/team=2606/player=32424/index.html [dead link]
  9. ^ http://www.irb.com/jwrt/teams/team=2606/player=35584/index.html [dead link]
  10. ^ http://www.irb.com/jwrt/teams/team=2606/player=35569/index.html [dead link]
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