Australian U21s selected for IRB World Championship

Australia will field a heavyweight lineup for the 2006 IRB U21 World Championship in France next month, with a team that includes nine players who have played Super 14 Rugby and over 20 players who have previously represented Australia at the Under 21 or Under 19 level.

Coach Chris Hickey, who took the team to the Final in last year's World Championship in Argentina, has a wealth of talent at his disposal, including the following Super 14 players:

The tournament will be played in Clermont-Ferrand and Vichy in the Auvergne region, located in central France, roughly halfway between Marseille and Paris.

Australia will play Scotland (9 June), Fiji (13 June) and once again come up against New Zealand (17 June) in their pool matches.

The team comes into camp in Coogee this Thursday 25 May, with a warm-up match against the NSW Academy scheduled for next Wednesday 31 May.

Hickey said he was looking forward to getting the squad together.

"We have some high-calibre players available, players who now have some Super 14 experience under their belts.

"Having said that, the Super 14 players have not been available for our selection camps, so this week will be the first opportunity to get the entire squad together.

"It will be important to get the training match against the NSW Academy under our belts, so that we are not going into a tournament with players who have never played a game together.

"It will be a tough assignment to come up against Scotland, Fiji and New Zealand yet again, but it's a World Championship so you have to expect a tough draw."