2026 European Rugby League U19s Championship

[Gomersall]

 

[Damien]

Sounds good and 8 teams would be great. Hopefully countries pick their domestic players to stimulate genuine growth rather than seeing England F and G teams from the usual suspects. Used wisely and it could really entice lads to play RL.

[JonM]

Interesting location - it's where the French Olympic athletes go for altitude training. An out of season ski resort presumably has cheap accommodation and the medical and training facilities will be top class.

[NRLandSL]

33 minutes ago, Damien said:

Sounds good and 8 teams would be great. Hopefully countries pick their domestic players to stimulate genuine growth rather than seeing England F and G teams from the usual suspects. Used wisely and it could really entice lads to play RL.

Hope England and France choose a full strength squad this tournament. Would increase the quality of the games immensely and get plenty more eyes on the tournament. 

[NRLandSL]

Heard South Africa will be taking part. Hopefully Netherlands join them aswell.

[turn it in]

37 minutes ago, NRLandSL said:

Hope England and France choose a full strength squad this tournament. Would increase the quality of the games immensely and get plenty more eyes on the tournament. 

Aren’t France headed down under soon?

[NRLandSL]

9 minutes ago, turn it in said:

Aren’t France headed down under soon?

Yeah, U19s about to tour Australia again. Playing Kirwan state high school on June 25th, which are the best school team in North Queensland. Then playing 2 more games after that, one of which against the Aussie schoolboys or some junior blues side I think.

Should definitely go better this year, team looks a lot stronger and they have been able to select pretty much their full strength side unlike last year. 

Desclazi-Ganthier who was 18th for Catalans a few ago is going, So is star Lenny Marc, Luca Walsh who is one of St Helens reserves best, and many more terrific players.

Edited June 6, 2025 by NRLandSL

[turn it in]

2 minutes ago, NRLandSL said:

Yeah, U19s about to tour Australia again. Playing Kirwan state high school on June 25th, which are the best school team in North Queensland. Then playing 2 more games after that, one of which against the Aussie schoolboys or some junior blues side I think.

Awesome!!

hopefully streamed on YouTube.

[turn it in]

20 minutes ago, NRLandSL said:

Yeah, U19s about to tour Australia again. Playing Kirwan state high school on June 25th, which are the best school team in North Queensland. Then playing 2 more games after that, one of which against the Aussie schoolboys or some junior blues side I think.

Should definitely go better this year, team looks a lot stronger and they have been able to select pretty much their full strength side unlike last year. 

Desclazi-Ganthier who was 18th for Catalans a few ago is going, So is star Lenny Marc, Luca Walsh who is one of St Helens reserves best, and many more terrific players.

Who should we look out for from the French juniors?

[NRLandSL]

45 minutes ago, turn it in said:

Who should we look out for from the French juniors?

Mahault Beauvilliers, 17 year old hooker for Villeneuve, already a star in Super XIII. Freakish talent.

Lenny Marc, Centre for Catalans, probably the best on the side, unlucky not to have debuted in SL yet but Catalans have plenty of depth at centre.

Giovanni Descalzi-Ganthier, Prop, Very close to Catalans Debut was 18th man against Wigan. Very strong damaging front rower

Luca Walsh, Star halfback for St Helens reserves, probably one of St Helens best juniors right now, terrific player.

Thibault Correges, great hooker who just won Super XIII with Albi, been in the side every week this season and been fantastic off the bench.

Adrian De La Rose, Paul Galy. Fowards for Limoux and Carcassonne respectively. Been playing Super XIII at 17 and performing.

[turn it in]

4 minutes ago, NRLandSL said:

Mahault Beauvilliers, 17 year old hooker for Villeneuve, already a star in Super XIII. Freakish talent.

Lenny Marc, Centre for Catalans, probably the best on the side, unlucky not to have debuted in SL yet but Catalans have plenty of depth at centre.

Giovanni Descalzi-Ganthier, Prop, Very close to Catalans Debut was 18th man against Wigan. Very strong damaging front rower

Luca Walsh, Star halfback for St Helens reserves, probably one of St Helens best juniors right now, terrific player.

Thibault Correges, great hooker who just won Super XIII with Albi, been in the side every week this season and been fantastic off the bench.

Adrian De La Rose, Paul Galy. Fowards for Limoux and Carcassonne respectively. Been playing Super XIII at 17 and performing.

Good stuff.

whos luca Walsh?

[NRLandSL]

41 minutes ago, turn it in said:

Good stuff.

whos luca Walsh?

Joined St Helens from Lezignan a couple months ago. Still academy age, starting halfback for the reserves side as well. Been starring in both Academy and reserves. Scored 5 tries in around 6 or so games, plenty of assists and a great goal kicker too. Probably one of saints best youngsters awaiting debut along with Jake Davies, Billy Keely and Tom Humphreys.

[turn it in]

3 minutes ago, NRLandSL said:

Joined St Helens from Lezignan a couple months ago. Still academy age, starting halfback for the reserves side as well. Been starring in both Academy and reserves. Scored 5 tries in around 6 or so games, plenty of assists and a great goal kicker too. Probably one of saints best youngsters awaiting debut along with Jake Davies, Billy Keely and Tom Humphreys.

Is he the son of a former Aussie or kiwi elite 1 player like Alex chan’s sons?

[langpark]

I am actually really disappointed with this "exciting" announcement.  I would much rather they play at "mediocre" facilities, that are in an actual town.  Font Romeu is:

55 miles from Perpignan
64 miles from Limoux
80 miles from Carcassonne
115 miles from Toulouse

Who will be watching?  A few parents of players, team staff and a couple of mountain goats?  They could not have made it any less accessible to the general public.
 

[welshmagpie]

5 hours ago, turn it in said:

Good stuff.

whos luca Walsh?

I’ll assume it’s Alan Walsh’s son - the coach of Lezignan. I’m pretty sure Alan posts on here ocassionally 

[turn it in]

30 minutes ago, welshmagpie said:

I’ll assume it’s Alan Walsh’s son - the coach of Lezignan. I’m pretty sure Alan posts on here ocassionally 

Ok, thanks.

[Charlie]

8 hours ago, NRLandSL said:

Yeah, U19s about to tour Australia again. Playing Kirwan state high school on June 25th, which are the best school team in North Queensland. Then playing 2 more games after that, one of which against the Aussie schoolboys or some junior blues side I think.

Should definitely go better this year, team looks a lot stronger and they have been able to select pretty much their full strength side unlike last year. 

Desclazi-Ganthier who was 18th for Catalans a few ago is going, So is star Lenny Marc, Luca Walsh who is one of St Helens reserves best, and many more terrific players.

What are France u19 like for forwards? Mostly sizeable props which they don’t seem to have often 

[Odsal Outlaw]

4 hours ago, langpark said:

I am actually really disappointed with this "exciting" announcement.  I would much rather they play at "mediocre" facilities, that are in an actual town.  Font Romeu is:

55 miles from Perpignan
64 miles from Limoux
80 miles from Carcassonne
115 miles from Toulouse

Who will be watching?  A few parents of players, team staff and a couple of mountain goats?  They could not have made it any less accessible to the general public.
 

Peak rugby league. ‘I would rather they played at mediocre facilities’

[NRLandSL]

3 hours ago, Charlie said:

What are France u19 like for forwards? Mostly sizeable props which they don’t seem to have often 

Definitely have a decent sized pack this year with Desclazi, Galy, De La Rose and Buche and Benabbou off the bench. Should go well.

[langpark]

7 hours ago, Odsal Outlaw said:

Peak rugby league. ‘I would rather they played at mediocre facilities’

You bring up a great point!  I am sure if Bradford relocated to Liverpool for the sake of having state-of-the-art facilities, that you'd be all for it!

[welshmagpie]

1 hour ago, langpark said:

You bring up a great point!  I am sure if Bradford relocated to Liverpool for the sake of having state-of-the-art facilities, that you'd be all for it!

There’s a slight difference though. We aren’t talking uprooting decades/centuries of history in moving an established club to a whole new city. 
 

We’re instead talking about an international U19s tournament being in hosted in a place with top quality facilities for 200+ athletes and support staff. 

The prospect of a few dozen extra ‘fans’ from rugby league areas turning up to watch does nothing to convince me it’s worth the risk of going to a basic venue in lieu of housing athletes all in one place, with medical facilities in house and consequently far less transport logistics to consider.

France’s hosting of the World Cup qualifiers last autumn was borderline farcical - ask anyone from the Wales and Serbia camps especially, the organisation and logistics were terrible. Too many moving parts that France couldn’t cope with. Even at just 4 teams! It gives me comfort to see they’ve hopefully learned their error in having this tournament hosted in one place, a place more importantly that can cope with the rigours of elite expectations. 

Edited June 7, 2025 by welshmagpie

[turn it in]

5 hours ago, NRLandSL said:

Definitely have a decent sized pack this year with Desclazi, Galy, De La Rose and Buche and Benabbou off the bench. Should go well.

I wonder if any NRL clubs will having a peak at some of the French youngsters?

[NRLandSL]

2 hours ago, turn it in said:

I wonder if any NRL clubs will having a peak at some of the French youngsters?

Yeah the roosters definitely will be, hopefully some others as well.

[Charlie]

13 hours ago, NRLandSL said:

Definitely have a decent sized pack this year with Desclazi, Galy, De La Rose and Buche and Benabbou off the bench. Should go well.

Are any off them big, Ino that’s not all that makes a player but when playing the islanders you need 6,4 17 stone props 

[turn it in]

5 hours ago, NRLandSL said:

Yeah the roosters definitely will be, hopefully some others as well.

Would make sense seen as though 2 new NRL teams are entering the competition in the next 3 years.