# 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship

The 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship was the eighth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised for the second time in Italy by rugby's governing body, World Rugby. Twelve nations played in the tournament, with matches hosted by Parma, Viadana, Calvisano and Cremona, host city of the final match. England went into the tournament as the two-time defending champions after they successfully defended their title in the 2014 IRB Junior World Championship (as the tournament was known through 2014). This was the first U20 Championship held after the sport's governing body changed its name from the International Rugby Board to the current World Rugby.
New Zealand won the title after a 21–16 win against England in the final.

## Venues

The championship was held across four locations. Parma, Viadana and Calvisano hosted pool matches, with the latter two hosting semi-finals for each bracket (teams 1–4, 5–8 and 9–12). Cremona hosted the final and two of the remaining positional play-offs, with Calvisano hosting the others.
| Location | Venue | Capacity |
| Cremona | Stadio Giovanni Zini | 20,641 |
| Viadana | Stadio Luigi Zaffanella | 6,000 |
| Calvisano | Stadio San Michele | 5,000 |
| Parma | Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi | 5,000 |

## Teams

The following teams participated in the 2015 World Rugby U20 Championship:
| Pool | Team | No. of Tournaments | Position 2014 | Position 2015 | Notes |
| A | England | 8 | 1st | 2nd | Runners-up |
| A | France | 8 | 6th | 4th | |
| A | Japan | 3 | DNP | 10th | Promoted from 2014 IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy |
| A | Wales | 8 | 7th | 6th | |
| B | Australia | 8 | 5th | 5th | |
| B | Italy | 6 | 11th | 11th | |
| B | South Africa | 8 | 2nd | 3rd | Bronze Medal Winner |
| B | Samoa | 6 | 8th | 12th | Relegated to 2016 World Rugby Under 20 Trophy |
| C | Argentina | 8 | 9th | 9th | |
| C | Ireland | 8 | 4th | 7th | |
| C | New Zealand | 8 | 3rd | 1st | Champions |
| C | Scotland | 8 | 10th | 8th | |

## Match officials

The following officials oversaw the thirty matches:
* TMO Shaun Veldsman travelled to Italy for the semi-finals and the final.

## Pool stage

The playing schedule and pools were announced on 25 November 2014.
Key to colours in group tables :
* Teams advances to finals
* Teams in the 5–8th place play-offs
* Teams in the 9–12th place play-offs
All times are in Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)
Points were awarded in the Pool Stage via the standard points system:
* 4 points for a win
* 2 points for a draw
* 1 bonus scoring point for scoring 4 or more tries
* 1 bonus losing point for losing by 7 or less points
* 0 points for a loss above 7 points
If at completion of the Pool Stage two or more teams were level on points, the following tiebreakers were applied:
* The winner of the Match in which the two tied Teams have played each other;
* The Team which has the best difference between points scored for and points scored against in all its Pool Matches;
* The Team which has the best difference between tries scored for and tries scored against in all its Pool Matches;
* The Team which has scored most points in all its Pool Matches;
* The Team which has scored most tries in all its Pool Matches; and
* If none of the above produce a result, then it will be resolved with a toss of a coin.
Pld = matches played, W = matches won, D = draws, L = losses, PF = match points for, PA = match points against, PD = Points difference between match points for and match points against, TF = tries for, TA = tries against, BP = bonus points, Pts = pool points

### Pool A

    Team Pld W D L PF PA PD TF TA BP Pts  France 33009635+61134113  England 320110753+54155210  Wales 31029252+4012715  Japan 300317172–15522600

### Pool B

    Team Pld W D L PF PA PD TF TA BP Pts  South Africa 330011926+93164315  Australia 32017883–51111210  Samoa 31026098–3871404  Italy 30034494–5071222

### Pool C

    Team Pld W D L PF PA PD TF TA BP Pts  New Zealand 330012542+83163214  Ireland 32014561–162608  Scotland 31025998–3961115  Argentina 30035179–283722

### Standings after pool stage

Overall Standings :
| Pool Pos | Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | BP | Pts |
| B1 | 1 | South Africa | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 119 | 26 | +93 | 16 | 4 | 3 | 15 |
| C1 | 2 | New Zealand | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 125 | 42 | +83 | 16 | 3 | 2 | 14 |
| A1 | 3 | France | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 96 | 35 | +61 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 13 |
| A2 | 4 | England | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 107 | 53 | +54 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 10 |
| B2 | 5 | Australia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 78 | 83 | −5 | 11 | 11 | 2 | 10 |
| C2 | 6 | Ireland | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 45 | 61 | −16 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 8 |
| A3 | 7 | Wales | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 92 | 52 | +40 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 5 |
| C3 | 8 | Scotland | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 59 | 98 | −39 | 6 | 11 | 1 | 5 |
| B3 | 9 | Samoa | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 60 | 98 | −38 | 7 | 14 | 0 | 4 |
| C4 | 10 | Argentina | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 51 | 79 | −28 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 2 |
| B4 | 11 | Italy | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 44 | 94 | −50 | 7 | 12 | 2 | 2 |
| A4 | 12 | Japan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 17 | 172 | −155 | 2 | 26 | 0 | 0 |

## Knockout stage
### 9–12th place play-offs

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | 9th place | 9th place |
| Samoa | 12 |
| Japan | 29 | | |
| Japan | 29 | Japan | 21 |
| | | Argentina | 38 |
| Argentina | 46 | Argentina | 38 |
| Italy | 5 | | |
| Italy | 5 | 11th place | 11th place |
| | | Samoa | 19 |
| | | Italy | 20 |

#### 9th place game
### 5–8th place play-offs

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | 5th place | 5th place |
| Australia | 31 |
| Scotland | 21 | | |
| Scotland | 21 | Australia | 28 |
| | | Wales | 23 |
| Ireland | 12 | Wales | 23 |
| Wales | 22 | | |
| Wales | 22 | 7th place | 7th place |
| | | Scotland | 9 |
| | | Ireland | 17 |

#### 5th place game
### Finals

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| South Africa | 20 |
| England | 28 | | |
| England | 28 | England | 16 |
| | | New Zealand | 21 |
| New Zealand | 45 | New Zealand | 21 |
| France | 7 | | |
| France | 7 | 3rd place | 3rd place |
| | | South Africa | 31 |
| | | France | 18 |