America is encouraging youth teams to align themselves with secondary schools, even though the junior XVs usually do not enjoy official sanction.


Simultaneously, under-19 leagues are being pushed to follow state boundary lines, rather than conform to established sub-unions. Both moves would have the effect of moving rugby away from the traditional juniors model.


The pair of USA Rugby initiatives are intended to promote piggybacking on powerful, well-funded school athletic departments as well as the athletic associations that have grown up around football, basketball, and some 20 other scholastic sports.


In late October, the union said it would divide its national youth championship into two divisions, creating a new category for teams comprising players from a single institution. Another division will remain for conventional U19 teams.

'The strategic goal for USA Rugby is to have rugby formally recognized and supported by high schools,' Peter Steinberg, the union's youth manager, said in a prepared statement. 'The new championship structure will support this goal by encouraging the formation of single high school teams, while allowing multi-school club teams to continue to compete.'

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Tonga, Italy, the USA and Canada are the four unbeaten sides after two rounds of Division B of the International Rugby Board's Under-19 World Championship.


The match reports are provided by the IRB.


USA vs Romania, 16-10


USA maintained their unbeaten start to the IRB Under-19 World Championship 2007 with a surprise 16-10 victory over Division B top seeds Romania at Queen's, Belfast, in a closely contested match.


Romania started the stronger of the two sides, having the majority of both the ball and territory. Strong work by the pack was rewarded when flank Bogdan Petreanu was driven over by his fellow forwards for the first score of the match and while USA defended well they just weren't able to hold out under the pressure applied by their opponents.


It didn't take long for USA to reply as 10 minutes later centre Jack Tracy sliced through the Romanian back line before out pacing the last defender and touching down for the try to make the scores level at 5-5 after 22 minutes.


Flyhalf Hamish Roberts couldn't convert the try, but the score provided USA with a new wave of confidence, which showed in their play for the rest of the match.


It was Romania though who went in leading at half-time as, after a series of American errors, Ionel Cazan made a great break before spreading the ball wide for replacement Alexandru Beldean to score his side's second try and give them a 10-5 advantage.


USA came out strong in the second half with Roberts kicking the ball well from hand to ensure his side were playing mainly in the Romanian 22. A good set piece soon levelled the scores when a catch and drive from a line-out saw Liam Murphy go over the tr- line to reward the Americans for their efforts.


The match was tightly poised at 10-10 and both sides where matching each other in all areas, but it turned out to be the boot of Roberts that won the match for USA after he managed two penalties in tricky kicking conditions.


The USA will now look forward to facing Zimbabwe at Queen's on Thursday 12 April with their hopes of a semi-final place still firmly on track, while Romania will play Canada at Upritchard Park, Bangor the same night looking to regain some pride after two disappointing defeats.

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