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There are numerous players at the Junior World Championship who hail from families with serious reputations at the top end of rugby. For instance, France have Posolo Tuilagi, who is the son of ex-Samoan international Henry, Australia have Teddy Wilson, the son of 1999 Rugby World Cup winner David, South Africa’s Jean Smith is the son of current Glasgow coach Franco, while England skipper Lewis Chessum is the younger brother of England Test forward Ollie.
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Another eye-catching family name within the England ranks is Bracken. It was 2003 when scrum-half Kyran was part of the Clive Woodwood squad that won the Rugby World Cup in Australia. Now, 20 years later in South Africa, his eldest son Charlie is striving for age-grade glory with their country’s U20s.
Their campaign has enjoyed a very promising start, the opening-round draw versus Ireland in Paarl getting followed by a convincing victory over Fiji in Stellenbosch that has left them firmly in the hunt for semi-final qualification when they take on the Junior Wallabies in their final pool match on Tuesday in Athlone.
Bracken was the No9 starter against the Irish before coming off the bench versus the Fijians. RugbyPass met him at the England team hotel in downtown Cape Town for a series of quickfire questions where his answers referenced Owen Farrell, Drake and King Charles III:
THE BASICS
Born: December 9, 2003;
Joined England age-grade: U18s against Wales in Taunton;
Club: Saracens (senior academy contract);
Position: Scrum-half;
Boots: Any Nike boots;
Gumshield: Opro. England made it for us. Traditional.
Headgear: No;
School: St Albans School.
All over on day two at the U20s Junior World Championship, England defeating Fiji 53-7 and taking the acclaim of the fans in Stellenbosch. #WorldRugbyU20s #ENGvFIJ pic.twitter.com/2XBk1cEHJD
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 29, 2023
RATE YOURSELF (out of 100)
Pace: I’m not that quick, probably 70 I reckon;
Passing: Probably 80;
Tackling: I’ll go 75.
THE PAST
My favourite England player of all time is… I reckon Ben Youngs is quite a big one considering how he has done in his career and the number of caps he has got.
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Favourite try I have ever scored is… I scored one on my debut in the U18s game against Wales, so that was a good one. I ran a cheat line, got the ball on the inside and ran about 20 metres to score. It wasn’t fantastic but it felt amazing scoring.
A rugby memory that makes me smile is… Probably at school where we beat our rivals when we were the big underdogs. We were playing Haileybury and we came back against them and beat them which we don’t usually do, which was good.
The moment I realised I could make it is… My Prem Cup debut (versus Wasps in March 2022). I was still at school then. I was 18. That was a surreal experience. Having that taste of first-team rugby was great and that was when I realised.
One piece of advice I would give to my younger self is… Believe in yourself, be confident and believe in your ability.
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My best subject in school was… Geography. I am studying geography at uni now.
The first player who made me fall in love with rugby is… I’d give that one to my dad. Watching him over the years has probably inspired me the most.
Growing up, my position was… Scrum-half. Always been a scrum-half. Was always quite small as a child so scrum-half suited me. I have got two younger brothers who started off at scrum-half as well but my middle brother is now a full-back and the youngest is still a scrum-half.
The coach who has most impacted my game is… Jeremy Walmsley, my schools coach. He helped me a lot. Because I was captain of my school, he mentored me a lot.
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THE PRESENT
My favourite rising rugby player is… There are so many. I think Jack van Poortvliet is doing really well, and he looks like a great prospect.
My best attributes on the field are… Passing, speed of ball.
One thing I’m doing to improve my education is… I’m at Loughborough Uni, studying geography. That has been great, so I am kind of part-time rugby, part-time uni which has meant that I can keep up my education whilst in the sport I love.
My favourite current England player is… Owen Farrell because he is at Saracens. He is a great bloke and an amazing rugby player.
My favourite YouTuber is… I don’t really follow much but I’ll say KSI.
My hardest working teammate is… There are so many. I’d say Nathan Michelow from Saracens. I played with him a lot and he is really hard working and has worked really hard to get into the side.
My most skilful teammate is… I reckon Sam Harris. He is pretty skilful. Can kick off both feet, has a good pass.
My favourite training drill is… I like a good old 15 on 15, just a match-based scenario. Stuff like that.
My favourite music artist is… Drake.
THE FUTURE
A player who could go all the way is… Joseph Woodward.
If I could play with anyone, I would like to play with… Manu Tuilagi. He would be good for front-foot ball.
I will be happy with my career if I… Have a successful career at Saracens, play for a long time there and hopefully play for England one day.
I want to make a difference by… Not sure. Just being a really skilful scrum-half and using that aspect of my game to get as far as I can.
If I could get a degree in anything I would choose… I have got the geography so far so I’ll probably stick with that, but if I were to do another one I reckon law.
I would be a better player if I… Was a bit bigger, a bit stronger. That would help out a bit.
If I could play in any other country, I would play in… Australia.
One person I want to meet is… The King.
One trophy I would love to win is… The Premiership and I’d also love to win the U20s World Cup.
Comments on RugbyPass
Of their 5 big matches in RWC Scotland and NZ were the easiest. They took a 12-3 lead against NZ and after the red decided it was best to hold the lead and take chances that came. None came and it was tight but they dug a lot deeper in the other two knock out matches. They had trounced NZ in Twickenham in a fixture that NZ must now regret. Psychology was clearly with SA in the final as a result.
1 Go to commentsMy favourite line/exchanges from Chasing the Sun 2. News headline: “SA. The last hurdle in ABs World Cup glory”. Something like that. “You’re all just a hurdle. A hop, skip and a jump”. Coming from Rassie and Jacque. Basically - nobody thinks you’re going to win. You’re just a pushover team. Nobody respects you. When the camera shows the players faces, you can see the effect. You can see the rev meters (die moer metertjies) firing up. Mitchell said he felt it prior to the 19 final. He said to Eddie watching the teams warming up that it was going to be a tough day at the office. Wave a red flag in front of South African, and you can expect a reaction. This is not unique - many teams rev themselves. And Bok teams in particular. With horrific consequences (discipline, poor thinking under pressure) because that’s the drawback to using emotion right? But what this Bok team does better than many since 2007 is channel the emotion and stay on task. Despite the emotion. Why, because while Rassie might play mind games - he talks about creating a safe environment. Listen to his recent honorary doctorate acceptance speech. While he uses psychology he creates psychological safety. He’s a damn fine coach. Can’t wait for Pretoria. It’s going to be a hummer.
5 Go to commentsWhat Rassie does for SA is big. It has helped people to unite and see we can win with the right people in place.
5 Go to commentsTerrible conditions for young players to express themselves just enjoy it guys. As a saffa great to see Ausie youth looking good. Wow SA have some great talent also.
2 Go to commentsYes, another example of French tv directors ensuring that incidents like this are swiftly glossed over for the benefit of their teams…
1 Go to commentsThe prospect of the club match ups across hemispheres is surely appetising for everyone. The reality however, may prove to be slightly different. There are currently two significant driving forces that have delivered to same teams consistently to the latter champions cup stages for years now. The first of those is the yawning gap in finances, albeit delivered by different routes. In France it’s wealthy private owners operating with a higher salary cap by some distance compared to England. In Ireland it’s led by a combination of state tax relief support, private Leinster academy funding and IRFU control - the provincial budgets are not equal! This picture is not going to change anytime soon. The second factor is the EPCR competition rules. You don’t need a PhD. in advanced statistical analysis from oxbridge to see the massive advantage bestowed upon the home team through every ko round of the tournament. The SA teams will gain the opportunity for home ko ties in due course but that could actually polarise the issue even further, just look at their difficulties playing these ties in Europe and then reverse them for the opposition travelling to SA. Other than that, the picture here is unlikely to change either, with heavyweight vested interests controlling the agenda. So what does all this point to for the club world championship? Well the financial differential between the nh and sh teams is pretty clear. And the travel issues and sporting challenge for away teams are significantly exacerbated beyond those already seen in the EPCR tournaments. So while the prospect of those match ups may whet our rugby appetites, I’m very much still to be convinced the reality will live up to expectations…
1 Go to commentsThe manipulative and cynical Erasmus….
5 Go to commentsWe see you World Rugby….we see you🤡😏
45 Go to commentsBoks are lucky to have a player of the calibre of PSDT in their ranks😍
7 Go to commentsI really like what the boks have done with bringing Vermeulen into their coaching setup. Perhaps they would have gone to france anyway, but Lawes and Farrell could at least have been offered assistant coaching roles. Lawes could probably aptly fill the brief (breakdown, contact skills, and handling) just given to Strawbridge; and Farrell could be a pretty good like for like replacement for Sinfield when he leaves. I probably wouldn’t want them in the national team set up just yet, but it would be good to see strings pulled to either get May, Youngs, Cole, & Care player-coaching roles in the premiership, or to move them into the under 20s coaching staff.
2 Go to commentsSo spiteful that the Springboks won again, they just had to change the laws so that they would stand a chance.
45 Go to commentsWhy would Eben lie? The guy has achieved so much. He saw it as arrogance. Any normal person who plays against the ABs year in and year out would have the same thoughts. Why even talk about the final when you have the biggest game of your lives next week in a stage you have never gotten passed? Rugly is simple in SA. Have fun but the most important thing is respect. I’m not buying any of this misinterpreted nonsense. Eben isn’t English, but no one during that interview was asking what did he say? He's speaking and therefore his understanding is perfectly fine. It was an arrogant thing to say, esp for a team that has never been to a final, never mind a semi. You guys up north can interpret it in a different way if you wish, maybe that s why you don’t win the biggest tournaments.
154 Go to comments> with Sky TV in New Zealand saying it has seen an 11 per cent lift in overall viewership this year. It’s easy for these kiwi “journalists” to throw around meaningless numbers to make it seem that things are improving, but if you look at the stats behind this 11 percent it says that after 10 rounds of rugby there is only a paltry 160k cumulative viewers in total.. That is on average 16k viewers watching a single round of Super Rugby. I very much doubt any of the other numbers that Gregor so proudly “reports” on.
38 Go to commentsGoode is a Prop that played Flyhalf…. Who gives a Sh@#t what he thinks anyway!
154 Go to commentsOne would hope when a player of such caliber is approached for transfer is traversed a lot more carefully. The question I ask, “is the players agent raising red flags in the first instance of contact”. By what I read assumptions are made by nzr based on player welfare provided to them. So what is that? Is it a wholistic approach where family balance is taken into account. Because thay’s what’s in the mix when players go off shore. I realize the money is a huge factor but when negotiations are initiated is nzr involved. As Lendrum says having our best players available is paramount to our success So here’s hoping they are effectively communicating.
4 Go to commentsPSTD, I salute you.
7 Go to commentsWhy don't they just give up on scrums and lineouts, cut the number of players to 13, and call the game ‘rugby league’? These idiots are determined to destroy the game as we know it, and instead of ‘attracting youngsters to the game’ as Beaumont suggests, it’ll deter a lot of the less skilled, maybe overweight kids who it is perfect for. World Rugby is detestable. And as for the 20 minute ‘red’ - why not teach the players to tackle better? (Like the current tackle height trials are supposed to do, but will probably be squashed by the NZRU as usual). I despair for the union game, I really do.
45 Go to commentsHere’s hoping the emphasis on how the tmo interfaces on game infractions is taken into account more seriously than what was adjudicated during the 23 wc. That was a shambles, plus Barnes the abs ref never contested some of the calls, something he’s known for. And then we're left with wr opologizing after the game that smith’s try was legit. I was even more pizzed. And as for the red card if the infringement is clearly intentional foul then the individual is out of the game and after 20mins the bench replacement comes on. So, there’s then the degree of seriousness taken into account within the 20min stand down.
38 Go to commentsNot sure they the article doesn’t hit on TMO this year, that’s were they were putting focus right. The fact the other areas haven’t improved shows just how poor the comp is at focusing on its direction. There should still have been further gains in both those areas this year even it if didn’t have the same focus as others. The whistle to restart time, like touch finders of 26 seconds, surely has to be a key focus area next year. Why should a side be given so much time to kick for touch? Cut that down to 5 or 10 seconds, penalties both become less of key stalling/defensive strategy, and become more ‘live’ with tap kicks becoming much more favourable quick actions. Theres absolutely no reason we have to wait over 10 secs for the preferred kicker to walk up and try and take maximum advantage, especially when half the time its just a delay tactic to give the forwards time to plan, as the kicker hardly even trys to find the corner with his kick, anyone could have kicked it straight out for the lineout.
38 Go to commentsShame. Hope something else can be arranged.
3 Go to comments