Baby Blacks win the U20 Rugby Championship

The New Zealand Baby Blacks are the inaugural Rugby Championship U20 champions after beating Australia’s Junior Wallabies 36-25 at Queensland’s Sunshine Coast Stadium on Sunday.

The Baby Blacks haven’t won the prestigious World Rugby U20 Championship in quite some time. Asafo Aumua stole the show with a stunning hat-trick in the 2017 decider against England as New Zealand ran away with a 64-17 win in Georgia.

Dalton Papali’i, Luke Jacobson and Stephen Perofeta also got on the scoresheet that day. With the 20s being such an important marker for any young player on the rise, going on to win the world title is a springboard for those young stars to shine.

But they’ve failed to win the last three iterations of the tournament. New Zealand were officially crowned the inaugural Rugby Championship U20 champions after beating Australia on Sunday. Every player and member of the coaching staff were rightfully gleaming but there’s another trophy they’re chasing.

The Kiwis want to win it all in South Africa from the end of next month, and after going through the junior Rugby Championship with an unbeaten record, there’s every reason to believe this team will be the ones to break New Zealand’s U20s hoodoo.

Backrower Malachi Wrampling-Alec already looks like an All Black-in-waiting, and the halves pairing of Dylan Pledger and Rico Simpson have also turned heads. This team has the makings of something even more special but it’s over to them to prove it.

England, Ireland and France will likely be the best of the northern hemisphere sides at the Championship. But New Zealand have shown enough that if they bring their A-game to South Africa then they can match it with anyone.