England U20s through to face hosts France in this year’s final
ENGLAND captain Ben Curry has urged his ‘special team’ of battlers to finish the job they started in the dark months of winter by becoming world champions in the south of France today.
A six-month long campaign that began in a January training camp culminates in today’s dream final against France when, having narrowly overcome South Africa in a dramatic semi-final, Curry’s men tackle the hosts in front of a full-house in rugby daft Beziers.
Rather than being cowed by the occasion, Sale back rower Curry told
The Rugby Paper: “I’m really proud to have led this team to the final. It’s something we’ve been talking about since the start of the year so to get the chance to win this World Cup is incredible.
“There’ll be a great atmosphere and the French love their rugby, but we’ve got a really special team and we can take confidence from beating them in the same stadium in March. It’s about us keeping cool now, doing what we know we can do and getting the job done.
“We’re lucky to have players like myself, Marcus Smith and Gabriel Ibitoye who’ve had a fair bit of Premiership experience and lots of the other guys have played in front of big crowds as well, so that won’t be an issue and we thrive in these highintensity occasions.”
England demonstrated their character in March by bouncing back from a shock defeat by Scotland to defeat the French 22-6, and Curry’s men were forced to dig deep again last Tuesday when they withstood a fiery South African comeback before prevailing 3231. An unacceptably high penalty count was nearly their undoing after establishing an early 19-0 lead – something Curry is keen to eradicate as he aims to follow in the footsteps of previous U20s captains Jack Clifford, Maro Itoje, and Harry Mallinder by lifting the trophy. “The second half was a nail-biter and credit to South Africa who were a very physical team and mauled well, but we put ourselves under pressure,” Curry said. “We showed in the first half what we can do as a team, scoring some great tries and being dominant up front. But we didn’t do that for the full 80 minutes and it became difficult to stem the flow of penalties against us, so that’s something we’ve got to improve.”
Backs coach Anthony Allen, left, believes his department has a huge part to play there. He explained: “South Africa drew us into a set-piece battle, which was their strength, and France are similar, so we’ll need to manage the game better than we did last week.
“The backs play a big part in that because although we’ve scored a lot of tries and look dangerous, ball retention is equally important. We need to be a bit more accurate in what we do to help the forwards, who are putting in a
lot of effort on our behalf.
“It’s difficult to improve when you’ve got such short turnarounds but there’s a lot of talent in this team and it’s just about harnessing that now for one big game. The team that takes its chances in the big moments will win and we’ll go into this positively.”
Meanwhile, reputations are there to be made and Curry is aware that a big performance today could see him follow the likes of Clifford and Itoje into the full England team.
He said: “It shows the success of the player pathway that those guys and so many others have reached this stage and then moved on in their careers. There is an awareness amongst us of what could follow but you have to perform at this level first.”
With twin brother Tom currently starring for the senior England side in South Africa, parental loyalties are being tested. However, Ben has won today’s battle, adding: “Our parents didn’t really know what to do and they’ve been looking at flights everywhere, but I’ve trumped Tom this weekend and they’ll both be in France to watch this final.
“It’s great to see Tom doing well and we’ve been getting lots of good messages from everyone, but I’m just focussed on this massive game now. We want to produce our best display of the tournament against France and get the win this squad deserves.”