A strange press release from the South African Rugby Union (Saru) on Monday afternoon has clarified that the U20 Rugby Championship is still alive and there for the taking, after the Junior Springboks were seemingly crowned champions on Sunday.
Two big wins, 56-17 over the Australia U20s and 48-21 over Argentina U20s, put the Junior Boks on 10 points, and with the bonus point format expected to be the same as the senior Rugby Championship, it meant they had an unassailable lead over New Zealand U20s and Argentina, who were both, at that stage, on four points.
The senior Rugby Championship only awards an attacking bonus point for a team scoring three tries more than the other, and not just the standard four tries for an attacking bonus point that most other competitions use.
Even last year’s U20 Rugby Championship followed those same parameters, so it was expected that this year was the same.
SA Rugby’s own press release on Sunday night touted the Junior Boks as champions, saying in the intro: “The Junior Springboks clinched the 2026 U20 Rugby Championship in emphatic fashion on Sunday evening…”
But on Monday afternoon Saru released a statement clarifying that was not the case, and that SANZAAR had changed the system.
Saru statement
The statement reads:
The official standings after Round 2 of the Rugby Championship U20 have been confirmed by SANZAAR.
The standings reflect the scoring format that was agreed for the 2026 tournament in Gqeberha, South Africa:
Win: 4 points
Draw: 2 points
Loss: 0 points for loss by more than 7 points
Bonus 1 point for scoring 4 tries or more
Bonus 1 point for loss within 7 points or less
The third round to be played on Saturday 9 May at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium will determine the winners of the 2026 Rugby Championship U20 tournament.
The latest updated standings can be found by clicking here.
This means that the New Zealand U20s picked up a bonus point for their four tries against Australia U20s, and Argentina U20s picked up one for their four tries against the Junior All Blacks.
That puts them both on five points, and thus in range of the Junior Boks going into the final round of fixtures on Saturday.
It is a very strange situation that the bonus point system was changed for this year’s competition, and that even the staff at Saru didn’t seem to know, as indicated by their own press release announcing the team as champions.
Final round fixtures in Gqeberha on Saturday
Argentina U20 v Australia U20: Kick-off 2pm
Junior Boks v New Zealand U20: Kick-off 4:10pm
