Spirited England out for revenge

By BEN JAYCOCK

PREVIEW…England v France (Today, Kick-off 6pm)

England U20s have the opportunity to make amends for their dismal defeat to France at the Rec in February and book a place in a World Championships final tonight.

England's hopes of a Six Nations title were blown away by a French onslaught that saw the visitors come away with a six-try 42-7 victory.

A 36-24 defeat to eventual Grand Slam winners Ireland followed before a change in the coaching staff saw U18s pathway coach Mark Mapletoft return as U20s boss replacing Alan Dickens.

Mapletoft, who led the U20s group in three Junior World Cup's from 2008-10, has overseen his side draw 34-34 against Ireland, blow Fiji away with a 53-7 rout and endure a nervy 22-22 stalemate against Australia in the pool stages that resulted in his side finishing as the tournaments best second place team.

A physical test against France's beefy pack awaits in the last four but Mapletoft says the opportunity for vengeance will be at the forefront of his troops minds.

He said: “If you'd have offered anyone involved the opportunity to compete in a semi-final, irrespective of who we're playing, they'd have bitten your hand off. We built on some things we did well in the Six Nations but we still have plenty to work on and our challenge now for the remaining two games is to nit the two together.

“We should have beaten Australia and we could have beaten Ireland but the bottom line is we didn't and you wouldn't expect an easy game in the semi-finals of the World Championship. It gives us a chance to get revenge for the loss at the Rec in February.”

England looked on course to comfortably see out a victory over Australia but a late comeback drew the scores level, before a last gasp attack by the Wallabies was only halted by a match and tournament saving tackle by England full back Sam Harris.

Mapletoft expresses the tightness of the group and how Harris' heroics symbolises the unity of his squad.

He said: “Sam Harris' cover tackle at the very end of the game epitomised how hard they want to work for each other. There were three or four individual errors in that line break, they've gone 80 metres and if they score that's the game and the tournament. If he doesn't make that tackle, we're in a playoff for fifth to eighth but that never say die attitude he showed was rewarded and is very difficult to coach.”

England have made five changes from their draw against Australia as Saracens winger Tobias Elliott, Bristol Bears centre Joe Jenkins and Newcastle Falcons fly-half Louie Johnson are drafted into the backline.

In the forwards, Gloucester prop Archie McArthur and Harlequins lock Harry Browne come into the pack.

Having won the Grand Slam in 2021, England have flattered to deceive in recent times with a third and fourth place finish in the last two Six Nations and an early exit in last year's Summer Series.

Mapletoft recognises that tonight's match in South Africa will be the biggest game in the vast majority of his squad's careers and says they've got ‘a clean slate now it's knockout rugby'.

“This group has definitely underachieved,” said Mapletoft. “We started really well in the Six Nations with three wins, didn't get our rewards against France when we probably should have in the first half and then going down to Ireland and down to 14 men with red and yellow cards, I thought the lads stayed in the fight and showed a willingness to work for each other.

“We went to Georgia for a pre World Cup camp, won one and lost one in very high scoring games and a lot of people wrote us off.

Working hard: Full-back Sam Harris in action for England

PICTURE: Getty Images

“You get one go at it and yes France are defending champions but this will be the first time their lads will be in a semi-final as well and pressure affects people in different ways.”

Sebastien Calvet's France are the only team in the tournament to take maximum points from all three of their pool games and put record six-time champions New Zealand, Wales and Japan to the sword in pool A.

Mapletoft said: “We're expecting physicality. They've won the last two tournaments and are defending champions for a reason. They were number one ranked seed coming into it, so it's up to us to rise to the challenge and put them under pressure.”