Northern Suburbs coach Simon Cron has been named head coach of the Australian U20s program in 2017.

The appointment caps a brilliant year for the New Zealand born coach, who led Norths to their first Shute Shield premiership in 41 years and coached the Sydney Rays to an inaugural NRC finals berth.

Cron will be joined by the equally successful, Carl Marshall who coached Brothers to grand final success in Queensland Premier Rugby in Brisbane this year and Nic Henderson who is part of the Melbourne Rebels Pathways program.

The Australia U20s will compete in the planned Oceania Rugby U20s Championship in April and the World Rugby U20s Championship to be held in Georgia in June.

In 2016 the Australia U20s defeated New Zealand U20s for the first time since U20s matches began at the Oceania Rugby U20s Championship on the Gold Coast.

“I’m very excited to be given this opportunity to coach Australia’s next generation of potential Wallabies,” Cron said.

“The U20s competition involves the best rugby athletes from around the globe and this is something myself and my fellow coaches in Carl and Nic are really looking forward to getting stuck into.

“Our goal is to put a squad together who can go to Georgia and win the World Championship.

“As part of that we must develop players who can step up into the Wallabies, Super Rugby and Sevens to compete on the International stage.”

The Super U20s Championship will kick off in February of 2017 with the five Australian Super Rugby franchises represented in the six-week competition.