England v France: Five takeaways from World Rugby U20 Championship final as ‘outstanding’ props send a message

Following their 21-13 win over France in the World Rugby U20 Championship final, here’s our five takeaways as England are crowned champions of the world.

The top line

A brutal display of pragmatism by England U20s in a rain soaked Cape Town Stadium saw them take their fourth U20 Championship as tries by Joe Bailey and impact sub Arthur Green were enough to overcome a doughty but error ridden display from France.

The game’s momentum swung dramatically when France‘s superstar eight, Matias Castro-Ferreira, saw yellow after a head high tackle on England’s Henry Pollock; as the Toulouse loose forward left the pitch so England’s forwards piled on the pressure, taking an 11 point advantage from a try and two penalties when France were down to 14.

The impact of Green and Lucas Friday, a man who turned 18 just last weekend, cannot be underestimated. Friday added much needed pace and kicking control at the base, whilst Green rumbled, trucked and thumped his way through everything in blue.

It wasn’t a classic of running rugby, but watching the youngsters learn to play to the conditions in front of them and England managing to stick to plan and to basics to get over the line demonstrated clearly just how professional and mature these wonderful youngsters of both nations are.

Set-piece foundation

England’s win was founded on their huge scrum dominance. It wasn’t even a battle but more of a capitulation by France as Afolabi Fasogbon and Asher Opoku-Fordjour simply melted their opponents into the damp Cape Town turf.

Given France leaked 10 penalties at scrum time, it was a mystery as to why referee Takehito Namekawa, who had an outstanding game elsewhere, didn’t reach to his pocket to put the French front-row out of their misery.

The most impressive aspect of England’s performance was its technical excellence and absolute legality; using Fasogbon as the drive point, England scrummed level, straight and fairly, painting a wonderful picture for Namekawa and one that he couldn’t fail to reward.

England are said to have a propping crisis at Test level but given the performances of Fasogbon and Opoku-Fordjour, it’s surely just a matter of time before these two outstanding youngsters get fast tracked into the senior side. With the power behind them provided by the huge frame of Junior Kpoku and the intelligent play of Bailey, the England pack delivered a performance that paid due respect to their South African hosts, a land where the scrum is revered.

First-half errors

Whilst England came good in the end, their lack of dynamism at ruck-time and a real issue with a misfiring lineout that saw Charley Gambini and Corentin Mezou cause England some pain in the air with some great challenges from the Wright throw, challenges that simply took any momentum away from England’s exit strategy and the gamete of penalties that they kicked to touch.

It was a filthy day for lineout throwing and in truth, England probably overcomplicated a number of their throw-ins, allowed France to pick off static one on one jumpers with their height advantage.

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The ruck was an issue too; for the first 40 minutes a combination of over running their own support and the back-row simply not competing or clearing allowed Castro-Ferreira to have an absolute field day, as the man who sat on the bench for Toulouse in the Top 14 final helped himself to a whopping six turnovers as England basically let him run riot on their ruck carries.

The rush defence, brilliantly led by Ben Coen and Sean Kerr, kept France on the back foot almost all half, but it was telling that the moment France got around the side of England, then only a knock-on in the build-up prevented them from scoring a thrilling try.

Second-half turnaround

With England playing predominantly one-out runners off nine due to the conditions, coach Mark Mapletoft paid tribute to his players’ resilience post-match, stressing the importance of changing the picture on the floor at ruck-time and their ability to simplify their exit strategy by reducing risk at the lineout.

“We really needed to throw numbers in on the floor – we were losing that battle due to players standing out to defend and it was key that both Finn and I got the players focused on competing in that battle,” he said.

“I also must pay tribute to Arthur Green and Lucas Friday, who really defined impact; we call Arthur the Hammerhead and he just went around melting anything in blue both sides of the ball. And Lucas, well he turned 18 last weekend and showed such massive maturity; obviously he comes from great stock with his Dad Mike a sevens legend, but his ability to get pace onto the clearances and make France play in their own half was absolutely key to our win.”

Skipper Finn Carnduff admitted it was an arm wrestle, but was immensely proud of the way his team responded to their half-time words.

“I guess we won ugly, but then finals tend to be a bit of an arm-wrestle and we were confident that the more the game went that way, the longer we’d stay in it, especially given our scrum dominance, not only from our starters but from the lads who replaced them,” he said.

“I’d like to say we’d be out on the town tonight, but it’s recovery and home, I’m afraid,” laughed the big Tigers flanker as he winked to camera.

The next generation

Watching this game, one realises the depth of talent in U20s rugby and just how many of these precocious talents are almost ready for professional and Test rugby.

The work of Castro-Ferriera at eight for France was nothing short of phenomenal; he’s already played in the Top 14 and has the likes of Jack Willis, Francois Cros and Jerome Kaino mentoring his meteoric rise in the game. Alongside him, both French half-backs, Leo Carbonneau and Hugo Reus shone on the back foot as their excellence in exiting and territorial gain simply kept France within touching distance for fully 50 minutes. Add in the power of Joe Quere Karaba on the flank and Barnabe Massa at hooker and it’s clear France’s U20s again are providing fuel for the future of the senior side.

England played pragmatically, but the leadership on pitch of Carnduff, the dynamism of Henry Pollock in carry (he came back well in the second half to try and apply ruck pressure too) and the sheer technical brilliance of the front-row may well see some of these youngsters fast tracked rather more quickly than they might have thought.

Add in the likes of Friday and Jack Bracken, who both have two more years of U20s rugby ahead of them and it’s clear that England are benefitting just as much as France have done in the past from the excellence of their U20 programme.

READ MORE: England win World Rugby U20 Championship to end France’s period of dominance