Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Getting to know: England U20s scrum-half Charlie Bracken

(Photo by Liam Heagney)

There are numerous players at the Junior World Championship who hail from families with serious reputations at the top end of rugby. For instance, France have Posolo Tuilagi, who is the son of ex-Samoan international Henry, Australia have Teddy Wilson, the son of 1999 Rugby World Cup winner David, South Africa’s Jean Smith is the son of current Glasgow coach Franco, while England skipper Lewis Chessum is the younger brother of England Test forward Ollie.

ADVERTISEMENT

Another eye-catching family name within the England ranks is Bracken. It was 2003 when scrum-half Kyran was part of the Clive Woodwood squad that won the Rugby World Cup in Australia. Now, 20 years later in South Africa, his eldest son Charlie is striving for age-grade glory with their country’s U20s.

Their campaign has enjoyed a very promising start, the opening-round draw versus Ireland in Paarl getting followed by a convincing victory over Fiji in Stellenbosch that has left them firmly in the hunt for semi-final qualification when they take on the Junior Wallabies in their final pool match on Tuesday in Athlone.

Video Spacer

Video Spacer

Bracken was the No9 starter against the Irish before coming off the bench versus the Fijians. RugbyPass met him at the England team hotel in downtown Cape Town for a series of quickfire questions where his answers referenced Owen Farrell, Drake and King Charles III:

THE BASICS
Born: December 9, 2003;
Joined England age-grade: U18s against Wales in Taunton;
Club: Saracens (senior academy contract);
Position: Scrum-half;
Boots: Any Nike boots;
Gumshield: Opro. England made it for us. Traditional.
Headgear: No;
School: St Albans School.

RATE YOURSELF (out of 100)
Pace: I’m not that quick, probably 70 I reckon;
Passing: Probably 80;
Tackling: I’ll go 75.

THE PAST
My favourite England player of all time is… I reckon Ben Youngs is quite a big one considering how he has done in his career and the number of caps he has got.

ADVERTISEMENT

Favourite try I have ever scored is… I scored one on my debut in the U18s game against Wales, so that was a good one. I ran a cheat line, got the ball on the inside and ran about 20 metres to score. It wasn’t fantastic but it felt amazing scoring.

A rugby memory that makes me smile is… Probably at school where we beat our rivals when we were the big underdogs. We were playing Haileybury and we came back against them and beat them which we don’t usually do, which was good.

The moment I realised I could make it is… My Prem Cup debut (versus Wasps in March 2022). I was still at school then. I was 18. That was a surreal experience. Having that taste of first-team rugby was great and that was when I realised.

One piece of advice I would give to my younger self is… Believe in yourself, be confident and believe in your ability.

ADVERTISEMENT

My best subject in school was… Geography. I am studying geography at uni now.

The first player who made me fall in love with rugby is… I’d give that one to my dad. Watching him over the years has probably inspired me the most.

Growing up, my position was… Scrum-half. Always been a scrum-half. Was always quite small as a child so scrum-half suited me. I have got two younger brothers who started off at scrum-half as well but my middle brother is now a full-back and the youngest is still a scrum-half.

The coach who has most impacted my game is… Jeremy Walmsley, my schools coach. He helped me a lot. Because I was captain of my school, he mentored me a lot.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Charlie Bracken (@charliebracken9)

THE PRESENT
My favourite rising rugby player is… There are so many. I think Jack van Poortvliet is doing really well, and he looks like a great prospect.

My best attributes on the field are… Passing, speed of ball.

One thing I’m doing to improve my education is… I’m at Loughborough Uni, studying geography. That has been great, so I am kind of part-time rugby, part-time uni which has meant that I can keep up my education whilst in the sport I love.

My favourite current England player isOwen Farrell because he is at Saracens. He is a great bloke and an amazing rugby player.

My favourite YouTuber is… I don’t really follow much but I’ll say KSI.

My hardest working teammate is… There are so many. I’d say Nathan Michelow from Saracens. I played with him a lot and he is really hard working and has worked really hard to get into the side.

My most skilful teammate is… I reckon Sam Harris. He is pretty skilful. Can kick off both feet, has a good pass.

My favourite training drill is… I like a good old 15 on 15, just a match-based scenario. Stuff like that.

My favourite music artist is… Drake.

THE FUTURE
A player who could go all the way is… Joseph Woodward.

If I could play with anyone, I would like to play with… Manu Tuilagi. He would be good for front-foot ball.

I will be happy with my career if I… Have a successful career at Saracens, play for a long time there and hopefully play for England one day.

I want to make a difference by… Not sure. Just being a really skilful scrum-half and using that aspect of my game to get as far as I can.

If I could get a degree in anything I would choose… I have got the geography so far so I’ll probably stick with that, but if I were to do another one I reckon law.

I would be a better player if I… Was a bit bigger, a bit stronger. That would help out a bit.

If I could play in any other country, I would play in… Australia.

One person I want to meet is… The King.

One trophy I would love to win is… The Premiership and I’d also love to win the U20s World Cup.

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

1 Comment
I
Ian 507 days ago

Charlie and Nye are both superb.

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

287 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ 'England's blanket of despair feels overdone - they are not a team in freefall' 'England's blanket of despair feels overdone - they are not a team in freefall'
Search