U20 captains ready for first match on Sunshine Coast
THE captains of four participating teams met at at the Sunshine Coast’s iconic Moolooaba Beach on Thursday morning ahead of the 6th edition of the Oceania Rugby Under 20 Championship which started last night in Australia.
Fijian captain Semi Qica joined Australia’s Titi Nofoagatoto’a, Josh Bartlett (New Zealand) and Mateo Albenese (Argentina) at the popular tourist destination at the Sunshine Coast.
The 2022 Oceania Rugby U20 Championship started yesterday afternoon with the national side playing New Zealand in the opening match before hosts Australia battle against Argentina.
NZ U20 skipper Josh Bartlett said they met Fiji after a warm up with Argentina.
“It is the first competition in over two years, and we have been prepping well in camp on the back of the Bunnings Warehouse Super Rugby Under-20 tournament.
“We had a practice match against Argentina last weekend which was hot day, which was a bit of a shock for the system but a good set up for this weekend,” he said.
Argentina captain Mateo Alabenese said: “We are excited for this tournament, it is our first games since our series against south Africa last year.
“We have been in camp for two weeks coming into this event. We had a really good match against New Zealand last week and are looking forward to playing Australia on Friday night.”
Fixtures: Friday, July 1: NZ v Fiji – kick off 5pm, Aust v Arg – kick off 7pm. Round 2: Tuesday, July 5: NZ v Arg – kick off 2pm, Aust v Fiji – kick off 4pm. Rnd 3: Sunday, July 10: Fiji v Arg – kick off 2pm, Aust v NZ – kick off 4pm.