England force observers to eat more humble pie after latest Six Nations triumph

England’s senior team upset the form book against Ireland last weekend after being written off and their age-grade outfit followed suit with a stunning success over France U20s.

Mark Mapletoft’s men produced a stunning display to upset the French youngsters 45-31 to win the U20 Six Nations for the first time in three years.

While the visitors were ahead of their opponents in the table going into the final round, few gave them a chance of emerging triumphant in Pau.

First-choice French players

For the first time in the competition, Les Bleuets were able to call on their best players with no Top 14 games this weekend.

They brought the likes of Posolo Tuilagi, who played three times for the senior side in the Six Nations, Marko Gazzotti and Hugo Reus into the XV.

They were close to first choice, with several of the players who dominated last year’s World Rugby U20 Championship in the squad.

In July 2023, they surged to the title, putting 50 points on both England and Ireland in the semi-final and final, respectively.

Although this English group are better than the squad that went to South Africa last year, their 23 on Friday only had 22 professional appearances in comparison to the 240 from France.

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The opening half-hour displayed that gulf in experience as the hosts raced into a 21-5 lead through Mathis Ferte, Kalvin Gourgues and Leo Carbonneau tries – the latter an incredible team effort.

England resilience

But England somehow managed to stay in contention, showing resilience, power and skill to get themselves back into the match.

James Isaacs’ brace on either side of the interval reduced the arrears to two points, and although Mathis Castro-Ferreira hit back for Les Bleuets, the visitors would not go away.

Ioan Jones’s intercept try once again reduced the arrears before Henry Pollock levelled matters with a quarter of the match remaining.

The French began to get frustrated, and the away side took advantage after they were awarded a penalty try to take them ahead.

James Halliwell then went over – from Isaacs’ brilliant off-load – to secure a remarkable victory, as well as a deserved tile.

“That is about as good as it gets. We knew it would be difficult to battle back from 21-5, but they showed their incredible resilience and work-rate,” head coach Mapletoft told BBC Sport.

“Last year, we were too easy to score against, and this year, we wanted to be harder to play against and score against. We had to hang in there and thought we could hurt them around the fringes as the game went on and we finally clicked.”

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