England U20s explain their selection of Paris-based Junior Kpoku
England boss Steve Borthwick had four Rugby World Cup players declared off limits to him for the 2024 Guinness Six Nations, but that red tape hasn’t applied at U20s level where Junior Kpoku will play for the English U20s in their championship opener despite being attached to Racing 92.
Joe Marchant, Henry Arundell, David Ribbans and Jack Willis are all unavailable for Test level as they play for Top 14 clubs, but this senior-level restriction hasn’t affected the 18-year Kpoku who has been popping across the Channel this winter from Paris to win his place in Mark Mapletoft’s age-grade starting line-up.
The youthful giant – he tips the scales at 117kgs and is just shy of 6ft 7 – had started the season in England having joined Rob Baxter’s Exeter. He went there with his pals Toby Clinch, Louie Sinclair and Sol Moody after they had all attended Finborough, the school near Stowmarket that reached last year’s National U18s Cup semi-final.
Kpoku’s stay was short-lived, though, as he was soon packing his bags again to link up with the Racing espoirs in November. France, after all, is a special place for his family with eldest brother Joel starring at Lyon, the 2022 Challenge Cup winners, and Jonathan attached to the nearby Bourgoin.
Junior was part of the Saracens academy when Joel referenced him in a November 2022 interview at RugbyPass, suggesting he too would likely adopt a wanderlust approach to making his career successful. “I have got a younger brother Junior who is at Sarries now, under 17s,” said Joel at the time.
“Bigger than me believe it or not. I hate standing next to him. I was with him a couple of weeks ago at his school, Finborough down near Ipswich, and he is massive, a tall fella who has put on some size as well.
“He is another we are hoping can kind of go down his own route and do the best in his own career rather than saying, ‘I’m Joel and Jonathan’s brother and I want to be a rugby player because they are’. He has got his head screwed on and knows what he wants.”
It was Wednesday, the evening before England travelled to Treviso for this Friday’s U20s championship opener, when age-grade coach Mapletoft shed more light on the latest cab off the Kpoku rank.
Asked by RugbyPass to explain why he remains an integral part of the England system despite his club move to France, Mapletoft said: “Junior was part of the academy programme when he was at Saracens and then he was part of the programme when he was at Exeter.
“He has played for the U18s, he played stand-alone fixtures last year, he played in the Six Nations, he travelled out to South Africa with the U18s – he has been an integral part of the England academy pathway, let alone the club pathway for two or three years now and whenever he has come in he has delivered good performances.
“He is ticking many boxes in the positional characteristics we look for in a lock and our view is it doesn’t matter how old you are, if you are playing well you are good enough to get a go.
“For him and Olamide (Sodeke) pairing up together, they know each other from their Saracens time and both 18, incredible really, big huge lads and you need a bit of bulk in the second row these days.
“He has been playing espoirs over there. We all know Stuart (Lancaster) is over there and we all know Stuart well, we have a good, personal relationship with Stuart, very supportive. Yannick Nyanga runs their espoirs and he is a direct point of contact with us with Junior and again he has been hugely supportive.
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“His performances in the espoirs have been outstanding. He was particularly good against Bordeaux; he has come over here and has played against Bath, played against Oxford and he has got the run this weekend so looking forward to see how he goes.”
How similar a player is Junior to eldest brother Joel? “I wouldn’t know necessarily,” said Mapletoft. “I haven’t spent an awful lot of time in the pathway with Joel. I have obviously seen him playing for Lyon recently in the Champions Cup; I’m not sure, to be honest. I didn’t know Joel at the same age.
“I know Junior, we spent a lot of time together over the last 18 months in the programme, great kid, all the attributes you want in a modern-day lock. We have presented him with an opportunity and I hope he grasps it.”
"Not to bad name them, but as an outsider, that speaks volumes" @joel_kpoku talks frankly to @heagneyl ??? about Lyon, his brothers and his exit from Saracens, a club he now views very differently. https://t.co/OSkKo2UXbt
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 17, 2022
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments