England flew out of South Africa last Saturday evening to Heathrow as the rightful champions, the consistency of their potent scrum and manipulative defence helping them to a deserved first title since 2016.
England U20 pair Jack Bracken and Junior K'poku have been named the top two U18 prospects in the world in 2024 schoolboy rugby.
The reigning age-grade Six Nations champions completed their Pool C campaign with a gruelling 17-12 win over South Africa last Tuesday at Athlone.
The English were impressive 40-21 comeback winners over Argentina on opening day at the Championship last Saturday and coach Mark Mapletoft has decided to rotate his team for their second outing with skipper Finn Carnduff, Ollie Allan and Oli Spencer the three repeat picks.
We stand at the start of another huge week of international age-grade rugby, and you can watch it all live and for free on RugbyPass TV.
The hat-trick scoring jack Bracken wasn’t the player that coach Mark Mapletoft reserved special praise for in the aftermath of the 40-21 win over Argentina.
Saturday’s opening round of the 2024 World Rugby U20 Championship produced a feast of age-grade entertainment. There were some excellent team performances and a clatter of individuals stood out.
The dramatic thing is, he wasn’t long packing up again in Devon and taking a giant October leap across the Channel. Stuart Lancaster’s Racing 92 had made an offer he couldn’t refuse, especially with a family illness unfolding.
Jack Bracken wasn’t part of the England squad that clinched the Six Nations U20s title 15 weeks ago, yet he was in Cape Town on Saturday justifying his recent call-up with a dream debut hat-trick.
Having clinched the Six Nations title with a spectacular win away to France in Pau last March, the English have been drawn in a pool in Cape Town that also includes Fiji and the host country South Africa.