England U20s create ‘narrow focus’ on Australia following Junior Springbok defeat
Exeter Chiefs back-rower Kane James (left) with Racing 92 lock Junior Kpoku (right)
England U20s insist they are parking the wider semi-final permutations and putting all of their energy into beating Australia.
The reigning Junior World Champions face an almighty task to reach the final four this year following last weekend’s 32-22 defeat to South Africa, with anything other than a bonus point win ending their hopes.
On top of that, Mark Mapletoft’s side will either need to rely on Scotland doing them a favour against the Junior Springboks, or hope results elsewhere fall into their favour to progress as the best second-placed team.
England currently find themselves second in pool A, and boast a better points difference than fellow second-placed sides Argentina and Ireland; however, this could all be null and void come the end of the final stage of pool matches as well.
‘We’ve got a job to do’
These mathematical conundrums are tough for any team to deal with, let alone an U20s side still in the infancy of their rugby careers, but yet their key leaders insist they have just parked all thought of it and are honing in on beating Australia.
“We were a bit down the day after the game, but the mood’s changed quickly and there’s a real focus on Australia,” number eight Kane James tells Planet Rugby. “We’ve got a job to do and get the five points.”
“The coaches have done a good job at changing the mood and narrowing the focus onto Australia.
England star opens up on French ‘reset’ after Wasps demise which has propelled him into Test picture
“It’s really important for us (to get over it) as the turnaround is so short, so it’s just ‘next job mentality’. We’ve got to park it, but take the good stuff from it. With the short turnaround, there’s not much time to review and preview, so it’s important to narrow the focus and look at the really important points (from the South Africa loss).
“We’ve just got to park (the situation), because we need the five points if we’ve got any chance of making it. We’re just moving on and focusing on Australia.
“We’ve stayed positive, but the job’s not done,” adds towering second-rower Junior Kpoku. “We still have a chance to make the semis, but we can only control what we can control, and that’s getting the five points.”
“We’re always just thinking about the next game, we don’t need to think about the next two or three, it’s about now. It keeps the focus on just that one game rather than thinking ‘oh we’ve got a semi-final, how do I prepare for that?’, it’s just about that first game coming.”
Australia are by no means a pushover either, and come into the game in good spirits after a strong 34-24 win over Scotland last time out, but Exeter Chiefs back-rower James feels his side know just what to do to get the win.
“From a pack perspective, their lineout drill is really good and it’s something they pride themselves on; and they’re good from five metres out and the pick and go as well. It’s a real challenge for us as forwards to put pressure on them in these areas.
“Our lineout defence has been good recently; we did a good job at disrupting South Africa, so if we can do that against Australia, we’ll be in a good place.
Title aspirations still on
There is certainly pressure on this England U20s squad, who are believed to be one of the greatest crops the country has ever produced.
Kpoku has already trained with the England senior squad and featured multiple times for Racing 92 in the Top 14, and James, Ben Coen, Nick Lilley (all Exeter Chiefs) Ollie Streeter (Harlequins), Vilikesa Sela, Kepu Tuipulotu (both Bath), Ben Redshaw (Newcastle Falcons), Archie McParland (Northampton Saints) and Tye Raymont (Sale Sharks) have all become regular features with their respective Premiership clubs this season as well.
With a squad that talented, even if reaching the semi-finals requires a bit of good fortune, Racing 92 young gun Kpoku feels they can still go on and defend their title.
“All of us here are motivated (to win the title), that was our goal,” he tells PR. “We didn’t deliver against South Africa, and that might have pushed us back, but we want to win this. There’s fuel in our tanks, so if we do play South Africa again, it’ll be a good game.
“Last year we had a lot of X-factor, Henry Pollock, Afolabi Fasogbon, Asher Opoku-Fordjour, but this year we’re a tighter group. We’re tighter as in we don’t dwell on mistakes. Last year, if we didn’t win a lineout, our heads would drop as we’d never failed. It was always ‘we’re on top’, but failure is actually good, as you can learn.
“It’s such a good environment here, I love it. They let you do what you want to do (on the pitch), and they want you to express yourself. You get some environments where they want you to act certain ways, but here, Toft (Mark Mapletoft) lets us be ourselves.”
READ MORE: Dean Richards rubbishes nepotism claims as Owen Farrell would’ve beaten Smiths to B&I Lions squad