The captains of four participating teams spent the morning at the Sunshine Coast’s iconic Moolooaba Beach for the traditional captain’s photo ahead of this Friday’s opening round of the 2022 Oceania Rugby Under 20 Championship.
Joining Titi Nofoagatoto’a (Australia), Semi Qica (Fiji), Josh Bartlett (New Zealand) and Mateo Albenese (Argentina) at the popular tourist destination were 2 members of the four hundred strong patrol group of the Molloolaba Surf Lifesaving Club (MSLS) Max and Rylee Jones and members of the under 9 Nippers program Flossie Smith and Chloe McIvor. The MSLS is celebrating 100 years of community service to the Sunshine Coast community at Moolooaba.
The 6th edition of the Oceania Rugby Under 20 Championship gets underway on Friday afternoon at 5pm (local time) when New Zealand take on Fiji in the opening match before hosts Australia battle against Argentina.
Josh Bartlett New Zealand Captain said:
“The boys are really looking forward to the competition. 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.”
Mateo Alabenese, Argentina Captain 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.”
The matches will be live on Stan Sport (Australia), Spark Sport (New Zealand) and ESPN (Argentina AL Latam and South America).
Tickets are available via Ticketek.com
2022 Oceania Rugby U20 Championship Schedule (Sunshine Coast Stadium)
Match Round 1: Friday 1 July 2022
- New Zealand v Fiji – kick off 5pm
- Australia v Argentina – kick off 7pm
Match Round 2: Tuesday 5 July 2022
- New Zealand v Argentina – kick off 2pm
- Australia v Fiji – kick off 4pm
Match Round 3: Sunday 10 July 2022
- Fiji v Argentina – kick off 2pm
- Australia v New Zealand – kick off 4pm
**All times local
