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.
A green bottle of Castle Lite was suddenly the beverage of choice… and why not? England had just been crowned champions. “I've already necked two,” he chucked.
Mark Mapletoft’s side demonstrated their ability to squeeze teams in that last four success, holding the Irish scoreless in the second half to win 31-20 after leading 22-20 at the interval.
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.
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.
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.
It will be round three in Athlone on July 9 when that fancied duo – last year’s beaten semi-finalists – go head-to-head in an intriguing group that also contains a dangerous Argentina and a little known Fiji.