The tournament is hosted in South Africa for the second time, previously being held in 2012.

[1] The 2023 under 20 competition (alongside the Trophy) was the first global U20 competition held since 2019, with the 2020 edition, scheduled to be held in Italy, cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing instability in the world following the pandemic delaying the return of the competition.

The teams that participated in the tournament are listed in the table below, with a summary of their previous best results at the World Rugby Under 20 Championship included.

Assistant Referees for the pool stage were local South African referees, whilst in a World Rugby first, a TMO bunker was trialled whereby the Television Match Official focussed on the game, and a Split Screen Operator focussed on any yellow cards needing an upgrade to a red card.

France Japan New Zealand Wales Australia England Fiji Ireland Argentina Georgia Italy South Africa Seedings for the knockout stage based on results from the pool stage:.