The USA Men’s U20 team for the 2026 Junior World Championships has been finalized.
In this newly-expanded JWC, which has more teams and replaces the old JWC as well as the Junior World Trophy, the USA is facing some high-level teams.
Their pool matches begin June 27 at Tbilisi's Avchala Stadium against Argentina, with England and Ireland ciming after that. T
After a series of competitive selection camps, Head Coach Johannes "Neets" Gericke and staff have narrowed down the list to 30 players who will travel overseas.
USA U20 Player Pool Starts Work to Build Toward Junior World Championships
The squad travel to Georgia for a training block where they will play a pre-tournament warm-up match against the host country as they dial in final preparations for their opening pool game.
“We are preparing as best we can with few opportunities to compete against other countries before the tournament.," said Gericke. "All three of those teams have played in U20s competitions this year. We have spent a few weeks together. Now, we are going to Georgia early to play a warm-up match, which will provide us with much needed information.
“We have goals for each match: to control what we are in control of. We want to execute our basics & process, and accumulate small wins.
“We have players who really want to be here, who have really invested to be part of this team; therefore, we have the right players for the job. I want to see them face giant rugby nations without hesitation, regrets and with a lot of pride and bravery.
“This is a massive opportunity to show the global rugby community how far we have come. In 2023 we qualified for the Junior World Trophy (2nd division) and finished 7th out of 8 teams, ranking us 19th overall at the U20s level. In 2024 we lost in the final against the host nation Scotland, which ranked us 14th at the U20s level. We missed out last year with the JWT canceled, but now we are in the Junior World Championship and the boys are excited.”
the games will be shown on Paramount+.
Supporters can back the USA Junior World Cup squad to help support these players as they represent the United States on the world stage via this link>>
