Three in Australian Under 20 squad

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Sydney University Football Club will be represented by three players when the Federation of Oceania Rugby Unions Under 20s Championship start at Bond University on the Gold Coast tomorrow (Saturday).

Hooker Folau Faingaa, prop Matthew Sandell and second-rower Harrison Williams have been chosen in the 30-player Australian squad for the tournament which was postponed today (Friday) because of bad weather conditions.

Randwick’s Andrew Kellaway has been named captain of the squad which is being coached by Adrian Thomson.

The squad includes 12 players from the NSW Under 20’s side that won the National Under 20’s Championship in March, as well as 10 players from Queensland, three players from Victoria with two each from Western Australia and the ACT.

The Australian Under 20’s will take on New Zealand, Japan and Samoa in a preparation tournament before the World Rugby Junior World Championship in June.

“This is great opportunity for players to come together and press their claims (for the World Championship) with a series of training sessions and workshops before the tournament begins,” Thomson said.

“The Australian Under 20’s program is an extremely important stage in the development of our future stars through the Pathway to Gold program, this is why we have taken a squad approach initially.”

Meanwhile, SUFC has provided three representatives for the 8th and 9th rounds of the 2014-15 Sevens World Series, to be played in Glasgow on May 9-10, and London on May 16-17.

Nick Malouf, Greg Jeloudev and Ed Jenkins have been selected in the 14-man squad who need to perform well in both tournaments to push for a top fourth berth on the world rankings.

Australia is placed fifth in the 2014-15 Series – nine points behind fourth-placed England – leading into the final two legs. The top four countries, along with hosts Brazil, will qualify automatically for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Teams that finish outside the top four will have to go through to an Olympic Regional Qualifying Tournament in November.

Australia has been drawn in Pool A of the Glasgow tournament along with England, France and Russia.

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