England's 2008 U20 finalists - Where are they now?
Ten years on from the inaugural Junior World Championship and the advent of the U20 classification in rugby, many of England’s class of 2008 should be in the primes of their careers.
England impressed throughout the tournament, beating Australia, Canada and Fiji in the group stage and South Africa in the semi-final, but New Zealand in the final was a bridge too far for them, where they fell to a comprehensive 38-3 defeat.
That Baby Blacks side included talents such as Ryan Crotty, Sam Whitelock and Aaron Smith, but who made up their English counterparts that day and where are they now?
We took a look.
- Noah Cato
Cato was highly thought of coming out of the Saracens academy and had already played multiple times for the senior side in the Premiership before heading off to the JWC with England. He enjoyed a fair amount of success at Saracens and represented England at the Saxons level, but fruitless spells with Northampton Saints and Newcastle Falcons followed his departure from north London in 2011. He currently turns out for Wimbledon RFC in National League 2 South.
- Mark Odejobi
Odejobi was unfortunately never able to make the breakthrough at London Wasps that Cato did at Saracens. He left the club in 2011 and went on to play for both Esher and the England 7s team, before deciding to retire in 2014 at the age of 26. He currently works in the finance sector, after having earned a 1st class honours degree in Mathematics with Computer Science from Brunel University.
- Luke Eves
The son of former Bristol captain Derek Eves, Luke amassed over 100 appearances for Bristol in two spells at the club. He also went on to spend two seasons with the Newcastle Falcons and currently represents Hartpury College in the Greene King IPA Championship.
- Jordan Turner-Hall
Turner-Hall’s career was unfortunately cut short in 2015 when injuries forced him into retirement at the age of 27. He spent his entire career with Harlequins, having made his debut for the senior side as a 17-year-old in the season Quins were relegated, and went on to become one of the club’s most potent attacking weapons during their period atop the Premiership. He also won two England caps back in 2012.
- Miles Benjamin
Benjamin, too, was forced to retire from rugby at the age of 27, after spells with both Worcester Warriors and Leicester Tigers. He was a prolific try scorer for Worcester but unfortunately injuries had begun to take their toll by the time he arrived at Leicester and the number of appearances he made at Welford Road was limited as a result. Like Cato, Benjamin also progressed on to the England Saxons side, representing them multiple times between 2010 and 2016.
- Alex Goode
Unarguably the biggest success story of this back-line, Goode has gone on to feature for England 21 times, as well as making over 200 appearances for Saracens and picking up multiple domestic and European titles on the way. He remains a key component in Saracens’ first XV and is regularly championed as a player that Eddie Jones should include in his England squads.
- Joe Simpson
A bright career at Wasps has been semi-derailed by the emergence of Dan Robson, but Simpson is still a valuable contributor at the highest club level. Although rumours persist that he is leaving the club this summer, he has spent his entire career at Wasps, making over 220 appearances in the process and helping them through one of the darkest periods in their history. He also has an England cap to his name, with his sole appearance to date coming as a replacement against Georgia in the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
- Nathan Catt
Another player who has faced a career beset by injuries but one who is still chugging along in the Premiership for Bath. Those injuries have limited Catt to just over 100 appearances for the club and denied him a shot at an England cap, but when fit, there are few more effective than him in the Premiership. Catt joins Cato and Benjamin in the England Saxons club, though, having featured for them in 2009 against Portugal.
- Joe Gray
After coming through their academy, opportunities were sparse for Gray at Northampton Saints with Dylan Hartley around, so the promising hooker made the move to Harlequins and has forged an impressive club career. Since heading to west London in 2010, Gray has made just shy of 150 appearances for the club and was an important part of their title-winning squad.
- Alex Corbisiero
Perhaps the unluckiest member of this squad, Cobisiero is another forced out of the game due to injuries, but not before earning representation at every possible level. Domestically, he impressed for both London Irish and Northampton Saints, he played extensively for the England U20s and Saxons sides, won 31 caps with England seniors and reached the pinnacle of northern hemisphere rugby, representing the British and Irish Lions out in Australia in 2013. Corbisiero hung up his boots in 2016 and is currently working in the US as part of the NBC Sports’ coverage of the Premiership.
- Ben Thomas
Thomas was the original lock tipped for stardom out of the Saracens academy, before the likes of Maro itoje, George Kruis and Nick Isiekwe made it the en vogue thing. Unfortunately for Thomas, his career didn’t take the same trajectory as those of his successors. Thomas spent some time with London Welsh, London Scottish and Barking earlier in his career, before spells at Rotherham Titans and Coventry RFC in more recent seasons.
- Gregor Gillanders
Gillanders couldn’t quite make the breakthrough into the Leicester Tigers senior squad but enjoyed a productive career with both Bedford Blues and London Scottish. He is currently a Graduate Engineer with the Waterman Group, although he still features for London Scottish in the Championship.
- Jon Fisher
Fisher’s career has seen him have two stints at London Irish, as well as representing Bedford Blues, Northampton Saints and Bristol. Like several others in this XV, he also represented the Saxons, featuring in the 2009 fixture against Portugal. He left Bristol last year to pursue his coaching career and he is currently working in the London Irish academy, the same academy that he graduated from 11 years ago.
- Calum Clark
Clark’s career has been a rollercoaster ride to date, having faced the lows of serial injuries and several suspensions, but despite that he has forged a successful Premiership career. He featured 70 times for Yorkshire Carnegie, before embarking on a seven-year stint at Northampton, making nearly 150 appearances and forming a key part of their 2013-14 title-winning side. Adding to the solitary England cap he won in 2015 may now seem a long shot, but having moved to Saracens last summer, it would take a brave man to bet against Clark adding more silverware to his trophy cabinet.
- Hugo Ellis
Ellis captained the U20 side in 2008 and was seen by many at London Wasps as the next big thing in their vaunted back-row. It never quite worked out for Ellis at the highest level, despite a smattering of appearances for both Wasps and Newport Gwent Dragons, but he has been a key part of the Rosslyn Park squad in National League 1 since 2012.
Comments on RugbyPass
Ben Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
19 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
19 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
86 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
4 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
19 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to comments