Last Friday, the
England Under 20's were crowned 2015 Six Nations Champions after an
enthralling winner-takes-all final match against France in Brighton.
The score come the final whistle was 24-11, bringing to an end a
great tournament where a lot of young talent was on show. Compared to
their performances in the Junior World Championship, where England
were crowned world champions, we did not see the best from the squad
– the players themselves even readily admitted that they played at
about 60% of their full potential. For most of the time things did
not quite come together in terms of attack, where a lot of chances
were squandered or just not properly created, but the defensive work
for the whole tournament was phenomenal and demonstrated just what
these players are capable of. Having said that, England did win the
trophy after losing just one match against Wales, and in the process
scored 18 tries (9 of which came against Italy) whilst conceding just
5. It goes to show just how talented this group of young guys are if
they can win the Six Nations whilst not playing to their absolute
best. Hopefully they can recapture the style of play that won them
the JWC last year in time for this year's competition, where England
will be gunning for a third title in a row. It is a given that it
will be much tougher for the squad than the Six Nations, and so they
will need to be at 100%. Here are my five players that I believe
everyone should be keeping a close eye on in the upcoming JWC and
beyond.
The
captain of the squad, Charlie Ewels, is a great example of a leader for the
players. To be named captain of your country at any age is a massive
achievement, and would be enough in itself to warrant selection on my
list. Coaches do not just pick any old person to be in charge; they
pick someone who, can not only handle the pressure of having to be in
charge of making decisions for the team, but someone who is also an
incredibly gifted player. Ewels is one such person. He led from the
front throughout the entire tournament, making himself a nuisance in
defence, excelling at the breakdown in particular, and is one of the
main contributors to England conceding a very small number of tries.
His decision making skills were also excellent in the Six Nations –
he knew just what to do to keep England on the front foot and ahead
on the score sheet in every match bar one come the final whistle. In
terms of club rugby, you'll find him playing as part of the Bath
academy, and for any supporters of Bath you should count yourselves very lucky that he is a member of your team. Hopefully a lot of you
are planning to watch the Junior World Championship in June this
year, and if you do you'll be able to see first hand how talented
this guy is and how good a captain he can be for the under 20's.
Next is James Chisholm, who has a lot of fans out there. When I asked people
who they believed were the ones to watch, his name popped up again
and again. To put it simply, the man is a machine. His work-rate
across the field is, frankly, ridiculous. His presence at the
back of the scrum is one of the main reasons that England managed to
win and retain the ball – he keeps his eye on the ball to ensure
that it is safely in England's possession and, if it looks like it
may be lost, his split second decisions to move it away from the
scrum and into the hands of those out wide makes him, in my opinion,
stand out as one of, if not the, best player for England in the
tournament. Exploiting gaps is a key feature for any team if they
want to press forward and get points on the board, and Chisholm is an
expert at this. There was one great play in the Wales game where,
from the back of the scrum, he noticed a big enough gap and, rather
than waiting to see if we could score from said scrum, picked up the
ball and crossed the whitewash himself. He is a very intelligent
player who knows the right move to make at any given time in any
given situation. That is a great skill to have. When he has the ball
in hand, you can be sure that it will be carried and that metres will
be made; he has all of the makings of going on to be an incredible
player in the future. You can find Chisholm playing his club rugby
for Harlequins, and supporters of the club should be excited – he
is seriously good, and may be just what Quins need at a time where
they are not playing their best rugby.
Rory Jennings, the
fly-half for England in this year's tournament, is an extremely reliable kicker, which I mean as a compliment. Reliableness is what
you need as a 10 if you are going to keep racking up the points for
your team, and Jennings did this very well in the Six Nations.
Territory is another thing that, as a 10, you need to be able to give
to your fellow players. Rory was incredibly good at this, constantly
putting in kicks that allowed England to be in the right areas of the field and in a position to score
tries. Sure, they may not have taken as many of those chances as were
given to them by the fly-half, but Jennings did everything he
needed to do to set the team up. Bar the first half against France,
England seemed to win the kicking battle in every area and that is
most definitely down to the talent of the young kicker. He does still
have a way to go in improving his own attacking abilities, but I have
confidence that he will get there. He, like Ewels, plays his rugby at
Bath.
Before moving on to my
next player, I would like to put in a quick mention about Harry
Mallinder. He was unable to play in the Six Nations due to injury,
but we are expecting to see him back and fit in time for the Junior
World Championship. He plays at fly-half for England, and is a really
really good prospect for the future. I admit, I have not seen him
play that much, but we should all expect to see him in that 10 shirt
in just over two months time. This will probably mean that we will not be
seeing as much of Jennings, but I am confident that he will get game
time where he can continue to impress.
My fourth player on the
list is Howard Packman. Everyone knows how big a fan I am of his,
which may be down to my Saints bias, but I have good reason to
believe that he will go on to be a superstar. When Packman gets hold
of the ball, you would put money on the fact that his pace will gain
many metres for England and even that he himself will cross over the
try-line. The speed at which he can run is a real sight to behold,
and at full speed he is uncatchable. As a winger, he has everything
and more that is necessary to make him one of the best – not only
is his attacking prowess monumental, as his footwork allows him to
dodge and break away from many a tackle, but his defensive work is
also really impressive. It always amazes me how willing he is to get
stuck in with tackling players that can sometimes be almost twice his
size. Howard is not the biggest player you will see out on the pitch,
so his tackle rate may actually come as a real surprise to most
people. What he is best at though is running the length of the field
to score some great tries, one of which came in the match against
Italy. I would suggest watching the highlights of that match on
YouTube, and you will quickly see just what I am talking about. He
can get through the smallest of gaps and beat the biggest defenders,
and this really sets him apart from most other wingers. There was a
bit of frustration on his, and the fans', part over the course of the
Six Nations as he just did not get enough ball to really show us all
what he can do. However, if this can be rectified for the JWC, you
are all in for a real treat. As previously hinted at, he does play
his rugby at Northampton Saints and has been seen most recently
setting the pitch alight in the LV=Cup.
Last but by no means
least we have Joe Marchant. This guy is a try-scoring machine, having
got 5 of his own throughout the Six Nations, three of which came
against Italy. He makes beating defenders and carrying the ball look
extremely easy, and he did this time after time to keep England in
the right areas. It will usually take at least three tacklers before
he is brought to the ground, by which time he has made valuable
metres. Many times, however, he is not tackled at all and instead
manages to slice the defensive line and touch the ball down to score
some amazing tries. His hat-trick against Italy demonstrates this
perfectly, and again I would suggest you look up the match
online because you would not want to miss out on what he can do. He
also has great footwork, something that we saw on display in the game
against France. Against all of the odds, he managed to score what was
one of the best tries of the tournament despite flirting seriously
with the touch-line. It took a lot of skill to keep himself on the
field of play, but his nifty abilities enabled him to keep his heel
raised of the ground rather than being on the line. It was an
all-round superb try, and one that you will definitely want to see.
Marchant, like Chisholm, plays his club rugby at Harlequins and I
cannot help but feel that they are one lucky club to have this kind
of talent. He has been compared to Jonathan Joseph in the way he
plays, and the resemblance in their styles is certainly there. The
future of rugby at Harlequins is looking bright.
So there you have it –
my five players to watch out for in the future. I just want to say
that the whole squad are seriously talented and there are a lot of
players in there who I have no doubt will be playing for the senior
England team at one point. If I could talk about them all, I would
because, to win the Junior World Championship two years in a row and
now be Six Nations champions, is a phenomenal achievement that all of
the players contributed to massively. Congratulations to them on
their Six Nations win, and here's hoping that they can get a third
JWC title in Italy in June!
What are your thoughts
on who we should be keeping an eye on? Let me know!
Jess.
Twitter: @JessKebbell @RuckMeGently
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ruck-Me-Gently/743970519052255
Email: ruckmegentlyblog@gmail.com
Website: ruckmegently.blogspot.co.uk
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