U20s World Championship: tough pool draw for Scotland on their return to top tier

Today at 01:55 PM

SCOTLAND Under-20s will play reigning champions England as well as South Africa and Australia in the pool stage of this summer’s age-group World Championship. It will be the first time since their relegation back in 2019 that Kenny Murray’s side will compete in the top-tier tournament after they qualified by winning the World Trophy on home soil last summer.

The Championship will be held in four Italian cities – Calvisano, Rovigo, Verona and Viadana – and kicks off at the end of June. As usual, the three rounds of pool games will be followed by two days of knockout matches to determine final placings in the 12-team tournament.

England are the top seeds, having beaten France in last year’s final in Cape Town. The Australians are ranked sixth and the South Africans seventh, while Scotland, as the newly-promoted team, are ranked 12th.

Any draw could be regarded as a tough one for a side with the lowest ranking in the tournament, but Scotland, whose primary aim will be to avoid relegation, could certainly have been given a more forgiving fixture list. For instance, the third group of seeds from which South Africa have been drawn also contains Wales, who lost at the Hive just last week in this year’s Under-20 Six Nations.

WORLD RUGBY U20 CHAMPIONSHIP 2025
29 June to 19 July in the Stadio San Michele (Calvisano), Stadio Mario Battaglini (Rovigo), Payanini Center (Verona) and the Stadio Luigi Zaffanella (Viadana).

Pool A: England (seeded 1), Australia (6), South Africa (7), Scotland (12).
Pool B: France (2), Argentina (5), Wales (8), Spain (11).
Pool C: New Zealand (3), Ireland (4), Georgia (9), Italy (10).

Scotland’s pool games (all times BST):

Sun 29 June: England v Scotland (Verona, 11am)

Fri 4 July: Australia v Scotland (Viadana, 11am )

Wed 9 July: South Africa v Scotland (Calvisano, 11am).

Knockout matches:

Match day 4: Mon 14 July (Verona and Viadana).
Match day 5 (final and ranking matches): Sat 19 July (Calvisano and Rovigo).

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