England will defend the World Rugby U20 Championship crown they lifted for the first time in eight years last summer. Image: World Rugby 
No Pollock, no problem, for reigning champions
Adaptability is the word of the summer for the reigning champions. Combatting a heat in Northern Italy, only slightly more intense than the group featuring Australia, South Africa and Scotland, the side began preparations with a double win over Wales and Georgia.
With the loss of talisman back-row Henry Pollock to England, then the Lions, and both Lucas Friday and Angus Hall missing, the side have turned to six uncapped players mixed in with the eight winners from last year hoping to strike a balance betweem competitively defending their title and blooding the next generation.
A short turnaround between games and expected fatigue means players will be rotated and challenged to an extent many have yet to face. And that is exactly what head coach Mark Mapletoft is looking for, leaving tactical adaptions required to cope with the searing heat for the players to figure out. “We tend to let players work that out themselves,” says the once capped England international. “Throwing players in the deep end if it will help their progression.
“You want a few errors. you’re going to get errors, the ball is going to be greasy, the players are going to be sweating, there’s going to be sun cream, sticky fingers, it’s going to be challenging, we’re looking forward to it, but it’s going to be totally alien to last year, so we’ll see how we get on.”
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Head coach:
Just over a year into the job, Mark Mapletoft helped guide England to their first Junior World Championship title in eight years, hot on the heels of the 2024 Six Nations title to make theirs a double.
The head coach’s appointment was an astute move by the RFU, with experience coaching the U18s, acting as the national academy coach and over 1o years with Harlequins’ academy, Mapletoft has put the English talent conveyor belt back on track.
Players to watch:
Despite the absence of Pollock – a “great model and an inspiration” to the current side according to Maplecroft – England’s pack remains full of incredibly promising players. In Kane James they have a highly touted back-rower who powered over for two tries during the Six Nations, leading the way in carries by some distance before making his Exeter Chiefs debut not long after.
He will be supported by second-row/flanker Junior Kpoku of Racing Metro 92, (hugely talented and coveted by clubs in England) and Bath’s hooker Kepu Tuipulotu who landed a magnificently accurate grubber following a line-break plus a brace of tries against Scotland just a few months ago. Two young talents who could cause a real buzz this summer.
In the backline, watch out for Ben Coen, the fly-half was an assured presence in the Six Nations as top points scorer and similarly earning game time for the Chiefs. This tournament will also be an opportunity for Jack Bracken to stake a claim for more minutes with Saracens after developing in the Championship with Ampthill. The winger scored a hat-trick in last year’s tournament opener against Argentina and will hope to repeat the feat this weekend.
Team selecton:
J Bellamy; J Bracken, N Lilley, W Knight, T Offiah; B Coen, J Weimann; R McEachran, L Gulley, T Raymont, T Burrow ©, J Kpoku, G Timmins, S Williams, K James.
Subs: K Tuipulotu, O Scola, V Sela, O Sodeke, A Ainsworth-Cave, A McParland, C Ridl, B Redshaw.
This past year:
That 2024 Six Nations and Junior World Championship double high was always going to be tough to top, but it will be the manner in which they lost their grip on the former which will leave a sting.
Leading the table, having beaten Ireland away in round one, seen off France at home in round two, delivering a harsh lesson to Scotland with a 57-13 shellacking in Newcastle in round three, and overcoming Italy in round four, England then tripped up to Wales at the final hurdle, handing their cross-Chanel rivals the title. It was a harsh lesson, but Mapletoft hopes will be useful lesson for the players.
“I thought it was disappointing for them that night, disappointing for everybody involved, but actually a really positive learning experience,” said the coach. “Not for them just now, that will stick with them for the next two or three years, I’m sure, on their development path.”
Expectations:
It would be punchy to call the current holders anything but favourites. However, in the ‘Group of Death’, it is possible that they do not even progress past the pool stage. Mapletoft believes that each crop of U20 players must look to write their own story.
“This is unique. They’re not going to come to a four-week tournament with five-day turnarounds and 35 degree heat very often, if ever again. So it’s learning from that and utilising that experience, but then the players themselves creating their own stories, their own memories amongst themselves, because they’ll live with those forever, if they’re good ones!”
Did you know?
England’s side contains some serious rugby pedigree Jack Bracken’s father Kyran Bracken, earned 51 caps, winning the World Cup in 2003 whilst also appearing as a tackled player on TV during an episode of Friends. Bath’s Tyler Offiah is the offspring of rugby league legend Martin Offiah, an eight time England and 33 time Great Britain international before later appearing on shows such as Strictly Come Dancing, The Weakest Link, Pointless as well as Big Star’s Little Star with Tyler himself.
Then there is Kepu Tuipulotu, whose father Sione shone for Tonga during an eleven year international career between 1997 and 2008, while his older sister Sisilia is a Welsh international. Not to mention the extended family tree which includes Carwyn Tuipulotu, who played for Wales Under-20s and is now impressing in France at Top 14 club Pau, Wales No 8 Taulupe Faletau is another cousin, with Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu and his younger brother Mosese also relations. Former England internationals Billy and Mako Vunipola and their younger cousin Manu, who is now at Mie Honda Heat in Japan after playing for England Under-20s and Saracens, are also cousins.
Finn Russell shows his class as Lions atone for Argentina loss by thrashing Western Force