England U20s star reveals Junior World Cup title ambitions despite Six Nations ‘hurt’

England U20s are once again gunning for U20 World Championship glory, despite narrowly missing out on the U20 Six Nations title earlier this year.

The reigning world champions fell to a 23-13 loss to Wales on the final day of the tournament back in March, a defeat which not only cost them a Grand Slam but also the title as France leapfrogged them to the title.

England quickly atoned for that defeat, though, thumping their adversaries 47-14  last week in their first warm-up match ahead of the upcoming World Championship in Italy.

England U20s gunning for second successive U20 World Championship title

Despite losing the title in arguably the worst way possible, something the senior team know far too well too after the 2013 heartbreak, star fly-half Ben Coen told Planet Rugby there is an air of excitement within the current crop.

“The mood in camp is really good,” he said. “Probably more excitement than anything. There are a few new lads in camp, and after the Six Nations, there’s been quite a big break, so we’re all raring to go.”

While there might be some excitement in the group ahead of this fresh campaign, the manner of the Six Nations title loss was clearly a scarring moment for a lot of the squad.

England came into that tournament as heavy favourites, and seemed to be in cruise control after important wins over Ireland and France in the opening two rounds and later thumping Scotland 57-13 before beating Italy comfortably in round four, but they fell at the final hurdle as Wales’ win handed the title to France on a silver platter.

Rather than turning this into a downward spiral, however, the Exeter Chiefs back insists this will now just fuel their campaign in Italy this summer.

“There’s definitely hurt,” said Coen. “There are a lot of boys who are hurting still, but that’s going to be fuel for the World Cup campaign. There’s no hiding away from it, we were outstanding all tournament, but then didn’t show up in that last game (against Wales). That’s the way sport is sometimes.

“I feel it’s a massive learning curve and will be fuel for the fire. A lot of lads are hurting, including me; it took me a good few weeks to properly get over it, and I’m probably still not over it, but it’s probably not regret, it’s more learning.

“We’ve definitely addressed it, but we haven’t really lingered on it. We’ve gone ‘right, this is what we did and this is a few tweaks we can make in our game’. We’ve reflected on it, but we haven’t lingered on it, we’re just looking at how we can get better for it.”

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Their Six Nations title might have headed across the channel, but England once again come into this year’s World Championship as one of the title favourites, and Coen detailed that the squad are once again setting their sights on glory.

“We want to win it, there’s no hiding away from it,” he said. “Myself and a few other leaders had a meeting a couple of weeks ago about our aims, and we said we want to win. We wanted to win the Six Nations, but we didn’t win it so our job isn’t done; we want to win this.

“Along with that, we want to create lifelong memories and drive high performance from each other. Our expectations are based around that, and that’s what we’re going after. Hopefully, we can replicate what we did last year.”

Mark Mapletoft’s men achieved a historic feat by beating France in last year’s showpiece final in South Africa, the fourth Junior World Cup title England have won since the competition began in 2008, and Coen feels that should give them some sort of advantage on their journey to back-to-back titles.

“Definitely in knock-out games, you’ve got that experience. What I learned last year is that the nature of the World Cup is that it’s so full on and back-to-back, so everyone’s got to be buying into that final goal of winning it.

He added: “But, there’s a few lads who didn’t go last year (in the current squad) so it’ll be on us senior players to guide them through it. Hopefully, we can use that experience last year as a positive.”

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New faces

England’s 2024 title-winning squad was absolutely littered with talent. Star back-rower Henry Pollock was the headline attraction, but Sale Sharks star Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Racing 92 ace Junior Kpoku and Gloucester front-rower Afolabi Fasogbon, among others, played a crucial role in their march to the title.

But, this is a new-look England squad this time around. Pollock will tour with the British and Irish Lions this summer rather than pull on the U20s jersey, while prop duo Opoku-Fordjour and Fasogbon will more than likely be on England duty in the Americas as well.

On top of that, new faces like Aiden Ainsworth-Cave, Tyler Offiah, Campbell Ridl and Ollie Streeter will also all be heading into their first World Cup campaign.

As a result, the nine-capped Teignmouth-native now becomes one of the more senior players in the squad, but this is a role he flourishes in.

“I like being the experienced player and the leader,” he said. “I want to be the guy who takes charge of situations and be the guy everyone looks to.”

Coen added: “There are a few younger lads, so I like being able to take them under my wing, that’s how I am. It probably does add a bit more pressure, but I quite like it. I see it as another opportunity.”

Mapletoft’s side continues their preparations with a clash against Georgia on Saturday 14th June, before beginning their title defence against Scotland on Sunday 29th June.

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