Unbeaten England U20s finding it 'very difficult to be too picky'

There is a good vibe currently around the England U20s. RugbyPass glimpsed this ‘brotherhood’ bonhomie first-hand in the Edinburgh airport 13 days ago, the squad in high spirits as they walked through the building with a real sense of camaraderie as they prepared to fly home that Saturday morning.

This Friday night in Bath, though, will test the steel of these fledgling age-grade relationships. Defending champions Ireland are in town looking to get stuck into their hosts and England head coach Markl Mapletoft can’t wait to see how his young guns react.

“We have done our best preparation wise, I don’t think we could have done much more,” he told RugbyPass in the lead-up to the head-to-head featuring the two U20s sides who emerged from February with three wins each.

“Training has been good. The weather has turned, it’s been sunny. We have been training in nice conditions as opposed to pelting down with rain and muddy pitches. Hopefully, it stays fair for Friday night. Very excited.

“Always good to play Ireland and a great test for us. The first time we have come up against a team higher ranked than ourselves since the summer World Cup, so everybody’s excited. Can’t wait.”

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The tournament so far has tested the depth of Mapletoft’s resources. Only a handful of players will be starting for the fourth match in a row, such has been the turnover in personnel. For instance, two of the players spotted at Edinburgh airport were being wheeled towards departures in wheelchairs due to injury.

Despite the revolving selection door, the head coach admitted he can’t be picky with England harvesting maximum points – 15 – from their three wins, one point more than the Irish.

“Considering we have been forced into some changes both at the last minute and the preparation of, they have done remarkably well. It’s never easy overcoming things like Archie (McParland) pulling out in the warm-up in Italy or changing Josh (Bellamy) for Rory (Taylor) in the lead-up to Scotland and then Rory coming on and getting injured inside 15 minutes.

“They are tough situations for any player to overcome, let alone 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds. Listen, I have to give them a lot of credit. They have shown a great amount of fortitude just to get on with things and in terms of outcome, the maximum amount of points you can garner from the three games is 15, so in terms of outcomes very difficult to be too picky.

“Definitely areas of performance that we know we need to get better at and we know we need to get better at and this is a great test and springboard for us looking ahead to the World Cup where we will come up against some really strong sides. It’s the first test where we play a higher-ranked team than ourselves.”

So good have Ireland been in recent times, they are two wins away from clinching a third successive age-grade Six Nations Grand Slam. No wonder Mapletoft doffed the cap to his Irish counterpart Richie Murphy, who will become interim boss at Ulster once the U20s championship finishes next weekend.

“Ireland are a very good side when they get in your 22, very physical, very direct, very well organised. I like Richie a lot. Really pleased that he seems to have an opportunity to test himself coaching-wise at URC level, which is fabulous for him.

“His teams are very well-organised, very well coached, real easy to see their MO and look, they are well disciplined in terms of keeping to their structures and they challenge you physically. If we can match up with that and be disciplined and not give them too many entries into our 22 then we stand a chance of putting in a good performance.

"We haven't got a crystal ball…"

– England U20s head coach Mark Mapletoft on the potential for the Racing 92-based Junior Kpoku to play for France in the future. #EnglandRugby #ENGvIRE #U6N20 pic.twitter.com/XUp3UxD0ve

— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 6, 2024

“Equally when we have the ball we have to challenge them in the right areas, use our superpowers as well to make sure we stay on top of them in certain areas.

“We are expecting a very close, tight game. I just hope the conditions stay nice because our game down at The Rec against Wales was really greasy and terrible conditions for attractive rugby.

“It was a bit forwards orientated, a bit stodgy as well at times. Hopefully, we will get a full house down there, it will be a really good experience for all the lads, all 46 lads on both sides playing in front of big crowds like that.

“I know the Irish boys get that in Cork for their home games but it’s always nice to be challenged away from home. I thought they were exceptional when they went to France first round.

“They showed they can play in a hostile environment against a good side. It didn’t faze them at all so if we want to get anything from the game we are going to need to be right at it.

“I’m sure it will be a fiercely contested affair, two good, well-organised sides with some really good players and definitely some future internationals I’m sure across both teams. Just really enjoy it, get out there, let’s fill The Rec and see what happens.”

Among this week’s England attractions is skipper Finn Carnduff reverting to blindside after impressing the last day at lock. “We had a couple of unavailabilities. Olamide (Sodeke) and Junior Kpoku were unavailable for the Scotland game for different reasons.

“So we talked about Finn being able to move up and play second row and I thought he and Joe (Bailey) did a great job and then we got Harry Browne involved off the bench as well.

“Harry had been involved last year so plenty of experience there. It also allowed us to have a look at different combinations in the back row, but Finn’s best position is six.

“He offers an incredible amount of work rate, experience and leadership from that position and we have got Olamide and Junior back this week, so we are back to how we were pre-Scotland.”