Sydney University Football Club has five players in the 30-strong Australian team to contest the 2024 Under 20 World Rugby Championship in South Africa.
Centre Boston Fakafanau, hooker Bryan Edwards, lock Eamon Doyle, halfback Hwi Sharples and winger Ronan Leahy will fly out with the Under 20 squad to contest the Championship from June 29 to July 19. Fakafanau and Leahy have been linked with the Western Force, while Edwards, Doyle and Sharples have been linked with the NSW Waratahs.
They will join the rest of the Under 20 squad in Sydney next week to finalise preparations before departing for Cape Town. Australia is in Pool B with Georgia, Italy and Ireland, while France, New Zealand, Spain and Wales make up Pool A and Argentina, England, Fiji and South Africa make up Pool C. The Championship will be played over five match days in the Western Cape regions of Stellenbosch and Cape Town.
Australia Under 20 head coach Nathan Grey said the opportunity for the Under 20s to come together and represent Australia on the world stage in very special. “What awaits us in Cape Town is a formidable challenge, starting with our three Pool opponents,” he said.
Meanwhile, SUFC members James Kotis, Oliver Schmude, Archie Campbell and Andrew Guest have just returned from France where they were members of the Australian UniRoos competing at the World University Rugby 7s Championship from 10-12 June in Aix-en-Provence.
Japan defeated Australia 36-7 in their opening Pool C match, but the UniRoos hit back with a 24-15 result over Chile. They then lost 38-19 to hosts France, making their chances of a semi-finals berth all that tougher. They rallied with a 51-14 result over India in their final Pool match but missed a semi-finals berth when other results counted against them. France went on to win the men’s final with a 22-15 result over South Africa.
