HARRY MALLINDER

Aussie game has put us in good stead

We’re only 80 minutes away from a third title in four years but the fact of the matter is that if we lose against South Africa tomorrow we won’t even get to the final so we can’t be thinking about that.

England U20s have had some great success in the past in the JWC but this group is completely different and we want to win something for ourselves rather than live in the shadow of the players who preceded us.

We didn’t play as well as we’d have wanted in our last pool game against Australia and we know our performance has to be better tomorrow if we want to be beat the Baby Boks who showed how good they can be against France on Wednesday.

Conceding a try 35 seconds into the game was far from ideal but the resilience we showed afterwards to come back and win the game was great to see.

We had a word under the posts and the message was not to panic.We knew we still had 80 minutes ahead of us to get back into the game and getting that penalty straight from the restart put us on the board and really settled the nerves.

There were times in the game when things didn’t go our way especially in attack and that wasn’t the standard we expect from ourselves. But we have great belief in the group and we always thought we had what it takes to turn things around.

Australia surprised us especially with their defence and we gave a lot of possession away. Their line speed was something we hadn’t been exposed to in this tournament yet and it took us a while to adapt to their aggression.

But a rushing defence means space in behind and, even if it took us a while to identify, it was great to score that try early in the second half.

The information was fed from the touchline to us and then it was up to me and Joe Marchant to pick our moment. Luckily for us it worked and it was a great finish from Joe.

We’ve learnt a lot from that game and it’ll put us in good stead going into South Africa because they’ll do the same.

We know the physical challenge they’re going to pose with their big forwards and some very quick and skilful outside backs. It’s going to be a great challenge for us against another very good Southern Hemisphere side.

Personally I’ve played against them twice with England U18s as we toured there for the past two summers. But this time it’ll be on home ground and I can’t wait.

The support we’ve had in Manchester has been

superb and with it being my home town it makes me very proud. It’s a great opportunity for all the lads to have their family and friends watching us represent our country.

It’s been an unbelievable season so far for me breaking through the first team at Northampton. I’ve tried to add my little bit to the team and it was great to be involved after dreaming about it for so long.

There’s been a lot of talk about me being available for this World Cup but I didn’t read too much about it. I just try to do my job as best as I can for the team whether I’m picked at centre or fly-half.

Losing Theo Brophy-Clews was a big blow for us as he was a big part of our squad.We had to deal with it and adapt to it and I’m happy to fill in at No.10 if that’s where I’m picked.

We have two games left to play so hopefully we can make them games to remember by winning both and lift the trophy next Saturday.

Harry Mallinder was talking to NICK VERDIER