The NSW Waratahs have 14 of the 30 players picked for Australia’s U20s squad for the World Rugby Junior World Championship in Georgia later this month.
Edwin Langi, Matthew Sauao, Isaac Fonua, Toby Brial, Luca Cleverley, Marshall Le Maitre, TJ Talaileva, Angus Grover, Sam Blank, Jonty Fowler, Zach Fittler, Leo Jaques, Charlie Bird and Tom Farr-Jones have all been given the nod by head coach and former Waratah legend Chris Whitaker.
The squad will assemble in Sydney next Wednesday before flying out to Kutaisi, Georgia where they will play all of their three Pool D group games.
The Australia U20s will start the World Championship against Spain in the early hours of Sunday morning on the 28th of June before taking on Fiji and then closing out the group against U20 Six Nations winners, France.
The four pool winners will progress to the semi-finals, while second-placed teams will compete for fifth to eight places. Third and fourth-placed teams will contest rankings from ninth to 12th and 13th to 16th respectively, with seeding based on pool-stage competition points.
Australia U20 Head Coach Chris Whitaker said:
"We're pretty excited, we've got a talented group and feel like we are ready to embrace the challenge of competing on this world stage.
"We have learnt a lot this year at both the Coffs Coast Festival of Rugby and The Rugby Championship, and we'll take those learnings into Georgia with us.
"We have got a tricky pool with Spain, Fiji and the Six Nations champions, France, but we will go into the games with confidence and give it our all."
Australia U20 Junior World Championship Match Schedule: All 3 pool matches played at AIA Arena, Kutaisi
- Pool Match 1: Australia U20 v Spain U20 on Sunday 28th June at 02:30 AEST
- Pool Match 2: Australia U20 v Fiji U20 on Thursday 2nd July at 21:30 AEST
- Pool Match 3: Australia U20 v France U20 on Wednesday 8th July at 00:00 AEST
- Seeding Match 1: Australia U20 v TBC on Sunday/Monday 12/13 July
- Seeding Match 2: Australia U20 v TBC on Friday/Saturday 17/18 July
