The World Rugby Under 20 Trophy (known as the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy until 2014) is an international rugby union competition. The event is organised by the sport's governing body,
World Rugby
World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...
, and is contested by 8 men's junior national teams with an under-20 age requirement. This event replaced the World Rugby's former age-grade world championships, the
Under-19 and
Under-21 World Championships.
The inaugural tournament was held in June 2008, hosted by
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
and with 8 teams participating.
The World Rugby Under 20 Trophy is the second level of the World Rugby tournament structure for under-20 national sides. At the same time that the Trophy was launched, World Rugby (then known as the International Rugby Board) also launched an upper-level
championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this system ...
, featuring 16 teams in 2008 and 2009 and a reduced format for 12 teams from 2010 and onwards.
Promotion and relegation between the Trophy and the Championship is in place. The winner of the Trophy will play in next year's Championship, while the last placed team at the Championship will be relegated to the Trophy for the next year.
History
The inaugural tournament was held in 2008, hosted by Chile, and won by Uruguay.
World Rugby's decision that the United States would host the tournament in 2012 was viewed as the United States taking a step closer towards hosting the
Rugby World Cup
The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...
.
[ESPN Scrum, USA to host IRB Junior World Trophy, Jan. 29, 2012, http://www.espnscrum.com/irb-juniorworld-2011/rugby/story/158475.html]
Tournament results
Team records
;Legend
* = Hosts
* = Champions (promoted to
U20 Championship)
* = Champions (not promoted to
U20 Championship)
* = Runners-up
* = Third place
* = Fourth place
*''WC'' = Competed in the
U20 Championship
*''q'' = Qualified
*''-'' = Did not qualify
References
External links
Official tournament site
{{International rugby union
Under 20
Under-20 rugby union competitions