By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The 14th edition of the World Rugby U20 Championship takes place between 29 June and 19 July 2024 in Cape Town, with South Africa being back-to-back hosts.
What better time to have the World Rugby U20 Championship than during the school holidays. The event’s return to Cape Town for the second successive year is a testament to the Mother City’s reputation as a leading events destination.
“We are excited to support this event, bringing together some of the world’s top talent and heart of rugby’s next generation. I encourage all Capetonians to go out and show their support for our Junior Boks as well as welcome the visiting teams with electrifying gees,” City of Cape Town Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, said.
The tournament sees the world’s 12 best nations competing over five match days across three world-class venues.
Athlone Stadium will stage pool matches while the iconic DHL Stadium will play host to key fixtures, including the opener, semi-finals and the final.
Selected matches will also be hosted at the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch.
The Junior Boks go into the tournament having finished with a bronze medal at the 2023 championships held in the Mother City.
Ireland finished their campaign unbeaten but that wasn’t enough to deny England the title as a swashbuckling victory away to France came with the four try bonus point crowned them as champions.
The anticipation was then further heightened with the inaugural staging of the first age-grade Rugby Championship, New Zealand stealing a march on their southern hemisphere rivals to clinch the title seven weeks ago on the Australian Gold Coast.
Five of the Six Nations countries and all four Rugby Championship participants are now in South Africa along with Georgia, Spain and Fiji and the six-match round one programme will see a feast of rugby.
The schedule at the iconic DHL Stadium is defending champions France versus Spain at 2pm local time followed by Ireland versus Italy (4.30pm) and hosts South Africa against Fiji (7pm).
Out the road in the Cape Flats, the three-match programme begins with England versus Argentina (2pm) with Australia-Georgia (4.30pm) and Wales-New Zealand (7pm).