Under-18 squad take home bronze

FURTHER success for England’s youth teams in Coruche came from its Under-18s team, which recovered from a difficult day one to claim the bronze medal.

Sitting in eighth place overnight, the side altered its tactics to win the second day’s match with an impressive eightpoint score.

There was another individual medal, too, with George Organ claiming the silverware for his four points overall.

Led by managers Joe Roberts and Steve Sanders, the team of George, Sam Collett, Christian Jones, Andrew Cranston and Joshua Smith-Trow scored a total of 29 points on day one on the same river as the Under-23s.

“We messed up slightly as we were a bit too negative,” admitted Joe Roberts.

“In practice 700g was a good weight, but come the match the wind dropped and allowed the river to flow more, in its normal direction, so a few more fish fed.

“For the second day we decided to go for it and fed aggressively with more bait.

“The team scored just eight points, which is a brilliant one-day score in any World Championship!” added Joe.

“I’m very proud of the lads and I sat with George both days – he was brilliant.

“Conditions were terrible. Everyone had to fish under a brolly because of the heat, which was reflecting off the sand and made things very uncomfortable.”

Result, team: 1 Italy, 30; 2 Portugal, 32; 3 England, 37; 4. France, 38; 5 Germany; 43.5

Individual: 1 M Encarnado (Portugal), 2; 2 G Organ (England) 4; 3 P Marques (Portugal) 5; 4 R Vailant (France) 5; 5 N Unger (Germany) 5.