The World Rugby U20 Championship 2021 will not take place this year due to the ongoing impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
The decision was made in consultation with potential hosts and participating unions considering all aspects from financial impact to player welfare implications.
The cancelation is a blow for Fiji Rugby Academy players as most of these young players have been part of the HPU Academy programme from last year preparing towards this campaign.
However Fiji Rugby HPU General Manager Simon Raiwalui explain that the union will look into other opportunities to get some game time for the Fijian Under-20.
“Although the championship won’t go ahead we’ll look at opportunities regionally,” said Raiwalui.
“We’ll look at our Pacific neighbours as well as Australia and New Zealand and see if we can get some matches for our Under-20,” added Raiwalui.
World Rugby is also working with regions and unions to identify regional competition opportunities in a safe environment, reflecting the international federation’s ambition to support meaningful high performance competition pathways for the future stars of rugby.