Australia U20s captain Toby Macpherson understands the importance of not taking any game lightly at the World U20s Championships as they prepare to open their account against Georgia.
The U20s squad landed in South Africa over the weekend as they look to improve on their fifth-place finish from last year.
Tickets to the Wallabies 2024 Home Tests are available to purchase here.
Macpherson is one of several returning players from that campaign, taking over the captaincy from Waratahs scrumhalf Teddy Wilson.
“It’s pretty cool, Obviously, to go there last year was cool but to have the title of captain next to your name is awesome and everything you could want from an under-20s perspective," he told reporters on the honour of being captain.
“Teddy (Wilson) was a great captain last year and hopefully I can emulate what he did last year with the group and go a bit further.
“…When (coach Nathan Grey) asked if I was comfortable to take the role, I was pretty keen to step in and really help get the lads ready for how to recover and prepare for those five-day turnarounds to get the best out of each other.”
The Georgians have been slowly building their rugby depth through the U20s program, which achieved their best result in last year's competition (eighth) after winning against Argentina and Italy.
They come into South Africa brimming with confidence after a 45-17 thumping of England in Tbilisi a fortnight ago.
“Last year the big learning was that it doesn’t matter who you are playing, you have to rock up on the day, particularly at the 20s level," Macpherson said.
“There’s a lot of athletes that are pushing really hard from different nations, like Georgia for game one, who at a men’s level are probably not where they want to be but from an under 20s level, they have a lot of resources and they’re building really nicely as a nation.
“Complacency is the biggest thing. We’ve got to rock up each game and really want to win and make a statement. I don’t think we were complacent last year but I think we learnt very quickly that you’ve got to be on your game and you can’t just rock up and want it to happen.”
Friday's Wallabies squad announcement was a timely reminder of the importance of the U20s program in the pathways, with Darby Lancaster named in his first squad 12 months on from a breakout tournament.
There have been close to a dozen players from last year's team that have featured in Super Rugby, with Reds winger Tim Ryan narrowly missing out on a call-up to Joe Schmidt's squad.
“It makes you think that maybe you’re not that far," Macpherson said on their success.
“Each individual is different and those boys credit to them, they’re really hard workers being around them last year and they were elite professionals and I think that’s correlated into their performances last year.
“I guess for the boys, it’s that idea you’re not that far away and in the long run in a year’s time, you never know, you could be out on the field against the British and Irish Lions.
“You’ve just got to put your best foot forward and it gives you the confidence you’re in the right program and hands and a good 12 months of footy you can see how you can go.”
