Australian Youth Rugby Championships

The Super Rugby U19s,^[a] also known as the Australian Youth Rugby Championships, is an Australian rugby union competition for men's youth teams that forms part of the pathway for selection to the Junior Wallabies. The competition is hosted annually by Rugby Australia and players must meet an under-19 age requirement. Previously, this tournament was played closer in time to the World Junior Championship and used an under-20 age requirement.^[1]

Super Rugby U19s

Logo introduced in 2018.
Sport	Rugby union
Inaugural season	2014 (National U20s)
Number of teams	5
Country	Australia
Holders	ACT Brumbies (2024)
Most titles	New South Wales (3 titles)
Broadcast partner	Stan Sport
Related competition	Super Rugby

History

National U20s

The first National U20 Rugby Championship was played in 2014,^[2][3] and was contested by teams from New South Wales, Queensland and an Australian Barbarians side (selected from the other states and territories). National under-20 teams from the Pacific islands were also invited to play matches.^[4][5]

The competition was played over two stages, with a Southern States U20 Championship held in March for teams from ACT, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory, as well as New South Wales Country and Queensland Country.^[6] A representative team from that tournament was selected to participate in the National U20 Championship's top division.^[7]

Logo for 2016–2017.

Super U20s

The Super Under 20s Championship was launched in 2016, with teams from Australia's five Super Rugby franchises competing.^[8] Matches were scheduled as curtain-raisers to home games hosted by the Super Rugby teams, with the tournament played as a single round-robin followed by a final between the top two sides to determine the champion team.^[8]

U19s Rugby Championship

In 2018 the competition was changed to an Under-19 championship played six months earlier in the lead in to the Junior Wallabies campaign for the Oceania and World Rugby tournaments.^[1]

Teams

The teams playing in the Under-19s Rugby Championship are:

• Australian Barbarians U19
• Brisbane City U19
• Brumbies U19
• Melbourne Rebels U19

• NSW Country U19
• Queensland Country U19
• Sydney U19
• Western Australia U19

Following the tournament, an initial squad for the Junior Wallabies team is selected from the best players. The Australian team competes in the Oceania U20 and World Rugby U20 championships.

Champions

Year	# of Teams	Final			Refs
		Winner	Score	Runner-up
National Under 20s Championship
2014	4	New South Wales	round robin	Queensland	[3]
2015	5	New South Wales	round robin	Queensland	[9]
Super Under 20s Championship
2016	5	Queensland	35–5	Melbourne Rebels	[10]
2017	5	Queensland	49–19	New South Wales	[11]
U19s Rugby Championship
2018	8	Brisbane City	41–7	Queensland Country	[12]
2019	8	Brisbane City	43–19	Sydney	[13]
Tournaments cancelled between 2020–2021 due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.[14]
2022	5	New South Wales	44–31	Queensland	[15]
Super Rugby U19s
2023	5	Australian Capital Territory	20–12	New South Wales	[16]
2024	6	Australian Capital Territory	40–31	Queensland	[17]

See also

• Sports portal

• Australia national under-20 rugby union team
• Oceania Under 20 Rugby Championship
• World Rugby Under 20 Championship

Notes

1. Since 2023 the competition is typically cited as the "Super Rugby U16s and U19s".