England Under-20s: Strengths, weaknesses and question marks
Every year the same question follows the announcement of the England Under-20s squad: is it better or worse than last year’s group?
England are one of the few countries in the rugby world blessed with the size of player pool and resources to ensure they never truly have a fallow year, although it is certainly true that position groups can vary in strength from season to season.
Only eight players are returning this year from last season’s squad and that inevitably means it will be quite an inexperienced group. Five players have also been called up who missed out last year but were still professional players, meaning they bring some senior rugby experience to the group.
That leaves 19 first-year players involved in the 32-man elite player squad, all of whom were only leaving school around six months ago. It’s these players – the fresh faces – that RugbyPass will focus on most closely.
Three of the real position groups of strength in this England age-grade are the fly-halves, scrum-halves and full-backs. That is nothing new at fly-half where England have been very productive as a rugby nation of late, although the surplus of talent at nine and 15, particularly the former, will be welcomed at the RFU.
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Beginning at No10 and last year’s incumbent starter, Manu Vunipola, is joined by Newcastle Falcons’ Will Haydon-Wood, Gloucester’s George Barton and Sale Sharks’ Tom Curtis. If history is anything to go by, England will not look at them as exclusive fly-halves and will instead endeavour to get them involved at inside centre or full-back as well.
It’s an interesting group. Barton was on the verges of an early under-20 cap during his final year of school, Haydon-Wood was arguably the standout ten in the Academy League – something which won him an under-19 cap – and Curtis dazzled for school side Sedbergh, a group which arguably comes as close to a full-strength Premiership academy as you are likely to find in school rugby.
Of the four, Curtis is the most versatile. He has played in the centres and on the wing previously for Sale Under-18s and he could easily replicate that with the England Under-20s during the upcoming Six Nations. A possible role in the midfield, where England have lost the likes of Cameron Redpath and Ollie Lawrence, could beckon.
How Cameron Redpath fares in the new Sale position he will occupy on Sunday at Exeter will be interesting
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Moving on to the scrum-halves and this has been a perennial problem position for England at the senior level. The talent coming through the age-grades has been noteworthy, but they have not done enough to take over starting jobs at their respective Gallagher Premiership clubs. This class could change that.
Sam Maunder is back from the 2019 season and will reunite with Vunipola at the heart of England’s attack, although he is also joined by Raffi Quirke of Sale and Jack van Poortvliet of Leicester Tigers. The latter two have managed to keep Jonny Law, also of Leicester Tigers, and Newcastle’s Callum Pascoe both out of initial EPS selection.
Whether or not Quirke and van Poortvliet can bypass players such as Faf de Klerk and Ben Youngs in the coming years is up for debate, but their talent is not. They are very gifted half-backs and it’s clear to see that competition at the position this season is higher than it has been for quite some time.
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Finally, we come to the full-backs and arguably it is the most talent-rich position that England have to call on this year. Josh Hodge returns for another crack at under-20s success and he is joined by Leicester’s Freddie Steward, Worcester Warriors’ Noah Heward and Sale’s Joe Carpenter.
That means there is currently no spot for Harlequins’ Louis Lynagh or Northampton Saints’ Tommy Freeman. England’s frequency with which they have played a traditional fly-half at the position also needs to be taken into account.
Hodge may well be deployed on the wing to make space for one of the specialist full-backs in the squad, with Steward definitely ticking the physical prototype you would look for at the position, as well as gaining plenty of senior experience with Leicester so far this season. The omission of Lynagh will be a big talking point and not a call that everyone will agree with, although it does go to show the competition and level of talent on offer this season.
Less than a month until England U20s kick off their Six Nations against France 🏴 🇫🇷
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Among the position groups where England could be harder pressed this season are the centres and the props. As mentioned earlier, Redpath and Lawrence have both graduated from the under-20s and the only new face brought in has been Max Ojomoh. The Bath midfielder has plenty of ability and will bring hard-running, dynamism and a robust physical presence to the group, though his sole inclusion does hint that England will potentially also look to use a fly-half at inside centre, as Ojomoh and Connor Doherty will not be able to carry the burden on their own.
Some of the centres who have not initially been named in the EPS are Lennox Anyanwu, Chidera Obonna, Isaac Marsh and Phil Cokanasiga, so there are gifted options there should England decide to go down a more centre-centric midfield.
As for the props, their position is not highlighted due to a lack of talent, simply due to a lack of experience. Loosehead Sam Crean is a second-year player, although he was not involved in the under-20s last year, while James Whitcombe, Harvey Beaton and Luke Green are all in their first years of professional rugby.
“PRO14 rugby is much more exciting than Premiership rugby, has been for years."
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In the front row, that arguably makes a bigger difference than it does at any other position. They will come up against players at times this year that have a physical edge over them and that will test them. That could be perfect for their developments in the longer term, although it’s worth noting that England may not have everything go their way up front over the next six months.
Some other interesting omissions through the squad include hooker Sam Riley (Harlequins), lock Chunya Munga (London Irish), back rows Izaiha Moore-Aiono and Fin Rossiter (both London Irish), wings Joe Browning (Leicester) and Jack Bates (Bristol Bears), and utility back Harry Barlow (Harlequins), with Barlow now potentially set to join up with Wales.
It’s always a large talent pool to pick from and there are always tough decisions to be made, although this season seems to boast more contentious calls than ever before. Perhaps that is due to a larger pool of international age-grade-calibre players this year or potentially just a very distinct playing style that the coaching staff is looking to implement over the coming months.
The group get their under-20s Six Nations campaign underway against France in Grenoble on February 1. With Les Bleus’ age-grade side arguably having surpassed England as the premier pathway in world rugby over the last couple of seasons, it should be a compelling test of this new group.
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Comments on RugbyPass
I 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.
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….
90 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 comments