Thursday 17 March, 2016



BMW Australia U20s to play New Zealand in Oceania Rugby U20s Championship  

The BMW Australia U20s will take on New Zealand U20s in a two-Test trans-Tasman battle at the Oceania Rugby U20s Championship (ORUC) at Bond University, Gold Coast in May.

Fans from across the world will have the opportunity to see the next generation of stars with the matches to be live streamed via rugby.com.au and oceaniarugby.com.

The matches will kick off at 6.30pm AEST on Tuesday 3 May and Saturday 7 Mayrespectively.

The junior Trans-Tasman Tests will give both nations crucial preparation ahead of the World Rugby U20 Championship to be hosted in Manchester, England the following month.  

BMW Australia U20s Head Coach, Adrian Thompson said: “The Oceania Rugby U20s Championship will give this side an excellent opportunity to test out our arsenal against last year’s U20s Champions, New Zealand.

“This is an important part of their development as Rugby players to get experience playing International opposition before we head to the World Rugby U20s Championship in June.

“Our players have been playing at a high standard throughout the Super U20s Championship and we look forward to the challenge of playing New Zealand.”

ARU General Manager High Performance, Ben Whitaker said: “Playing against New Zealand is the ultimate challenge in Rugby and it will be a great experience for our next generation of Qantas Wallabies to experience a Bledisloe Cup-style clash.

“The Super U20s Championship has been the ideal preparation for our squad, who have played more Rugby this year compared to any other year in preparation for a Test series.”

At last year’s Oceania Rugby U20s Championship Australia fell to New Zealand in the Final 46-29.  

The Australian U20s team is the final step in the ARU’s BMW Pathway to Gold program. The elite pathways program is designed to create the next generation of elite representative players for Australian Rugby for both men and women across Sevens and XVs.    
 
2016 Oceania Rugby U20s Championship, Bond University, Gold Coast:
Australia v New Zealand, Tuesday 3 May, 6.30pm AEST
Australia v New Zealand, Saturday 7 May, 6.30pm AEST
2015 Champions: New Zealand