Seven takeaways from England's uninspiring start to the World Rugby U20 Championship
England got their preparations for the World Rugby U20 Championship off to an uninspiring start at Sixways on Friday night, losing 26-12 to the Junior Springboks.
South Africa, who were playing the third game of their UK tour, looked clinical and powerful, whilst England showed plenty of rust and were it not for some excellent defensive work, could well have faced a much more one-sided score-line.
We have assessed the positives and negatives from a tough night for the England U20s and there is certainly a lot to be done between now and the beginning of the championship if England are to make it their sixth-straight final in France next month.
Continue reading below…
Positives
Fringe defence – England were hurt around the fringes during the U20 Six Nations, with their defensive organisation and communication seemingly not at a standard they would have been happy with. Against South Africa, even with the Junior Springboks’ powerful one-out carriers, England were much better prepared. The physical presences of Ted Hill and Joel Kpoku prevented South Africa from having much joy in the tighter confines.
Back three – The trio of Tom Parton, Ben Loader and Tom Seabrook went well in what was quite a tight game that lacked for moments of open play. Even without the tempo of ball or broken field to excel, the three players were reliable, defensively responsible and did offer threat, despite England being on the back-foot for much of the game.
Openside depth – With Tom Curry, Ben Curry and Ben Earl all not involved and at least two of those three not due to be available at the championship, there was a concern England could be found wanting on the flanks. Gloucester’s Aaron Hinkley had some impressive moments in a pack that was under the thumb of their South African counterparts.
Negatives
Lineout – This was an area England struggled in last year and during the Six Nations and little seems to have changed since then. The home side were unable to string together successful lineouts at Sixways and without that platform, they were unable to consistently spring their talented back line and dangerous loose forwards. It may be worth having a look at U18 hookers Will Capon and Kapeli Pifeleti ahead of the championships at the end of the month.
Driving maul – Offensively, England did manage to get one effective drive going in the second half that resulted in a Henry Walker try, but their inability to provide accurate lineout ball stymied any hopes they had of making it a major weapon. The more pressing issue, however, would be England’s shortcomings defending the driving maul, where South Africa had complete success. At no point did England seem to commit to trying to steal the lineout or preparing to repel the drive with all available forwards and being stuck in two minds did nothing to help deny one of the best mauling sides at this level of rugby.
Handling – Aside from a good bit of play between Parton and Loader that led to England’s try, the handling, attacking fluency and composure of the home side all seemed to be lacking. A lot of that can be put down to rust, but it will be a concern how ineffective the group looked with the chances that did come their way. A second playmaker, such as Luke James, could be the way forward for the group, with centres Ollie Lawrence and Fraser Dingwall both probably more comfortable at outside centre.
Ball-carriers – England struggled to consistently break the gain-line all night, apart from a handful of carries from Hill, Kpoku and Tom Willis. If Ben Curry is made available that could help next month, but powerful back-rower Sam Moore is sidelined with an ankle injury and won’t be back till preseason. If the gain-line can be broken, everything else becomes easier, but without it, England’s back line could continue to struggle to deliver the clinical and incisive play that they have thrived with over the last few years.
Comments on RugbyPass
NZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
22 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
22 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen 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.
22 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.
9 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.
22 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 🤐
22 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….
22 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….
90 Go to comments