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On Friday night South Africa and England have the chance to join the great age group sides by winning an IRB Junior World Championship.
Who are the greatest age group rugby sides in history? These sides would take some beating.
1977: Australian Schoolboys – Played: 16, Won: 16, Points For: 553, Points Against: 97
The 1977 Australian Schoolboys embarked on a tour of the United Kingdom under the revolutionary coaching of Geoff Mould from Matraville High School. Mould helped to engineer the flat backline attack which became the essence of the Wallabies for many years.
The Australian team won all four of its Test matches against Ireland (12-10), Japan (42-0), Wales (25-6) and England (31-9) and scored more than 100 tries on tour as they dazzled with their fast and skilful play.
Australia’s biggest win on tour was 66-0 against North Wales, one of three sides they held scoreless. Six players scored more than 10 tries on tour and the entire backline played for the Wallabies.
15. Glen Ella – 4 Tests, 1982-86.
14. Michael O’Connor – 12 Tests, 1979-82.
13. Gary Ella – 6 Tests, 1982-88.
12. Tony Melrose (C) – 6 Tests, 1978-79.
11. Mike Hawker – 25 Tests, 1980-87.
10. Mark Ella – 25 Tests, 1980-84.
9. Dominic Vaughan – 5 Tests, 1982-83.
Even more remarkable the ‘king’ of rugby league Wally Lewis couldn’t command a regular starting place in the team and Tony D’Arcy, Chris Roach and Shane Nightingale from the forwards all played for the Wallabies too.
1992/1993: New Zealand Schools: Played: 6, Won: 6, Points For: 318, Points Against: 57
The New Zealand Schools team made their debut in 1978 and have fashioned a formidable record over the years, winning 118 of their 135 matches. The class of 1992 and 1993 was without doubt the best.
Record victories over Australia (32-7) and England (51-5) were achieved and 14 future internationals were produced.
The 12 All Blacks were: Daryl Gibson, Carl Hoeft, Jonah Lomu, Isotola Maka, Todd Miller, Carlos Spencer, Jeremy Stanley, Royce Willis, Jeff Wilson, Pita Alatini, Andrew Blowers and Chresten Davis while Trevor Leota played 30 Tests for Samoa and George Leaupepe 26.
In the record win against Australia in 1993 Jonah Lomu scored two tries and Carlos Spencer won the man of the match award. Against England, Lomu scored a try and Jeff Wilson amassed 16 points.
1998: Ireland Under-19: Played: 5, Won: 5, Points For: 165, Points Against: 33
In 1998 the Association of European Rugby (FIRA) staged an Under-19 World Championship event in France that was a forerunner to the IRB event. It was won by a fine Irish side in dramatic fashion.
Ireland started with a routine 49-13 victory against the USA, after beating Spain 63-0 in a pre-tournament fixture. In their next game against South Africa the scores were level 17-17 at full time.
The game went to a penalty shootout and South Africa won. Irish anguish was short-lived however as match officials learnt that South Africa had put forward an unused substitute to knock over a penalty.
In the semi-finals Ireland accounted for defending champions Argentina (18-3) and then thrashed hosts France 18-0 in the final. Future Irish international Paddy Wallace kicked six penalty goals.
Other internationals in the team included: Donnacha O’Callaghan, Kieran Campbell and world record holder for the most Test caps Brian O’Driscoll. The side was coached by Declan Kidney, who led Ireland to their first Grand Slam in 61 years in 2009.
In 1996 and 1998 the Irish Under-21 team produced 100-Test champions, Paul O’Connell and Ronan O’Gara, plus Girvan Dempsey, Dennis Hickie and David Wallace. In 1996 Ireland beat New Zealand and in both years they won the Triple Crown after victories against Scotland, England and Wales. In 1999 they beat Wales 41-0. It was a golden age for Irish age group rugby.
2002: South Africa Under-21 – Played: 5, Won: 5, Points For: 247, Points Against: 71
The inaugural IRB Under-21 World Championships were held in South Africa and the tournament hosts were the victors. In pool play they accounted for Romania (135-0), France (28-9) and Ireland (42-22).
In the semi-final against New Zealand Jorrie Muller (six Tests) had an attempted drop goal charged down. New Zealand collected the rebound and scored a 90-metre try to lead 18-16.
However, Francois Swart kicked an angled penalty close to full time to give South Africa a 19-18 victory. Swart kicked five goals from seven attempts.
In the final South Africa edged Australia 24-21 in a thriller. South Africa roared ahead 24-9 after tries by Ashwin Willemse (19 Tests) and captain Clyde Rathbone (a future international). Swart kicked four penalties (including one from halfway) and a conversion.
South Africa lost Roland Bernard to the sin bin and tries by Anthony Mathinson and Peter Hynes narrowed the gap, but they held on.
Swart tragically died two years later in a road accident. Jean de Villiers, Ricky Januarie, Gurthro Steenkamp, Pedrie Wannenburg and coach Jake White all became World Cup winners with the Springboks in 2007.
2002: New Zealand Under-19 – Played: 4, Won: 4, Points For: 275, Points Against: 45
The IRB staged seven Under-19 World Championships between 1999 and 2006. New Zealand won four of them and 28 out of 33 matches. The 1999 New Zealand team produced Richie McCaw and Mils Muliaina, however the 2002 side was the most dominant.
New Zealand smashed Korea (83-10), Italy (80-8) and South Africa (41-9) to storm into the final where they met France.
Against France, New Zealand won by a staggering score of 71-18, a record in any IRB World final.
New Zealand outscored France 10 tries to two with future New Zealand Maori representatives, Pehi Te Whare and Cory Aporo scoring two tries each.
Future All Blacks, Jerome Kaino (two), Ben Atiga, Ben Smith and Luke McAllister also scored tries with McAllister contributing 24 points in total. Future English International Thomas Waldrom scored a try as well.
Other internationals involved in the New Zealand team were All Blacks, James Ryan, Tamati Ellison and Benson Stanley while Captain Ti’i Paulo and Paul Williams represented Samoa.
The French side was hardly a bad one. Dimitri Szarzewski and Yannick Nyanga have since become regular internationals.
2006: Australia Under-19 – Played: 5, Won: 4, Lost: 1, Points For: 226, Points Against: 63
The Australian Under-19 team remains the only Australian rugby team to win an age group World title. In Dubai in 2006 Australia easily accounted for Scotland (78-3) and Romania (88-9) in pool play before stumbling to a defeat to New Zealand (17-22).
In the semi-finals Australia defeated France (26-16) to earn another crack at New Zealand in the decider.
Australia started in rare from and tries from Daniel Linde and future Wallabies player Lachlan Turner had Australia 14-0 ahead. After the halftime break Armyn Sanders scored twice for New Zealand and future All Black Colin Slade kicked a penalty to make it 14-13.
Another future Wallabies internatonal Anthony Fainga’a then snapped a drop goal to make it 17-13 and Australia desperately defended their line to win the game.
Captain Saia Fainga’a, Christian Lealiifano, David Pocock, Ben Daley and Will Genia have all become Wallabies from this team.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.