After a moment of magic against South Africa from Zach Mercer, the captain, booked England Under-20s’ place in Sunday’s Junior World Cup final in Tbilisi, comparisons with their football counterparts were inevitable – they were not, however, wholly accurate. England’s football team winning any form of World Cup understandably commands attention but this is a fifth final in a row for a side who set out without five players away with Eddie Jones’s senior side in Argentina.
Oval ball success is sustained by England at this level and, while a rampant New Zealand stand between them and a fourth title in five years, the number of absentees makes their achievement of reaching the final in Georgia all the more impressive. Mercer’s omission by Jones for the Argentina tour was surprising but the Australian still took with him Tom and Ben Curry, Nick Isiekwe, Joe Cokanasiga and Jack Maunder. England have also suffered six injuries to their backs during the tournament in Georgia while Will Evans and Jamie Shillcock were ruled out before it started.
“It’s that context that makes the achievement of this group such a significant one,” says Dean Ryan, who took up the role of the Rugby Football Union’s head of international player development last July. “It’s that backdrop that makes it so significant. Under-20 World Cups are normally framed around three or four key individuals, not a collective, but the collective of this group has been a huge success. Against New Zealand, who unsurprisingly have a lot of very good individuals, this side has to be tactically very good and very collective but they have been all the way through.
After the footballers’ success, it was widely lamented that the pathway for those players to shine at senior level does not exist and while Ryan acknowledges it is also a problem within rugby, he points to the breakthrough of Tom Curry, Isiekwe and Maunder in Argentina as success stories.
“Watching Tom Curry last week was tremendous for us and the team here. To watch him win his first cap, to watch Nick Isiekwe come on and win a lineout, Jack Maunder fire it along for [Denny] Solomona to score [the winning try] – that’s fantastic for these lads because they can think: ‘That’s how close we are.’ Credit to Eddie for taking those players.”
Potentially jeopardising the current blueprint for success is a move by the Premiership to expand its A League rather than continue to send youngsters on loan to Championship clubs where they can cut their teeth against seasoned senior players. The RFU is reportedly against the idea and Ryan is not convinced A League expansion is the answer.
“Having a clear playing programme for this group is key,” he says. “A lot of our guys have not played a huge amount of rugby prior to this World Cup. The best of them are playing in the Premiership, that’s great. But what are the next group doing and where do they play regularly? It’s obvious that some of the deficiencies is lack of game time.
“A second tier needs a combination of young and senior players. You have to find something that combines that. Any tournament format has to fulfil that. There are times that the A League can do that, there are times that it can’t. The combination is key.”
