NO Junior World Cup this year, or last, and therefore no junior world player of the year for either season but I wonder if in normal times young Leicester scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet might have received that prestigious award for 2021.
The young Tiger impressed massively when he got his chances with Leicester and this week capped a fine season by winning the inaugural U20 Six Nations player of the tournament.
In a pretty competitive quick-fire tournament in Cardiff, Poortvliet skippered England to a Grand Slam, starting all five games and impressing all-comers. The award itself was voted for by the six coaches and captains – you can't vote for anybody from your own team – and Van Poortvliet emerged as the clear winner.
England clinched the trophy with an extremely hard earned 27-17 win over Italy who, with the second best defensive record in the tournament, proved a very hard nut to crack which offers some end-of-season encouragement for Italy coming on top of Benetton's win in the Rainbow Cup.
“With the year we've all had there have been a lot of camps and not many official games, so I'm super proud of how everyone's pulled together and performed like we have,” says Poortvliet, a product of Oakham School. “We didn't know much about the other teams and I hadn't been with the squad much prior to the tournament, but as soon as I joined the group I knew we had a good chance. We've shown an ability to win games throughout the series and I've loved playing with the boys.”
