- Mapletoft believes England U20 played “fantastic” rugby against France
- Head Coach believes England have developed into a tough side to beat
England finished second in the U20 RBS 6 Nations table behind Ireland on points difference, despite posting their biggest total in three years, beating France 47-33 on Sunday.
Their five tries against France came from No.8 Jamie Gibson (London Irish), who scored twice, centre Tom Casson (Harlequins) and wings Marcus Watson (London Irish) and Sam Smith (Harlequins). Head coach Mark Mapletoft believes the performance sets a good platform for this summer’s IRB Junior World Championship.
"Beating France in the way we did was a fantastic win and a big building block for us," said Mapletoft.
"We've tried to devise the type of game which is applicable in all conditions and today we had 90 per cent of our players available and were able to build on what we did in the 27-6 win against Scotland.
"At times we played some fantastic stuff - particularly the two tries scored by Marcus Watson and Tom Casson straight after half time. To pull all these young guys together from different clubs and circumstances and to play in that style was a real achievement and great to see.
"Sure there are still things to work on. Our discipline is still poor. We've had one red and seven yellows in the Six Nations and we certainly can't afford to do that in the goldfish bowl of the Junior World Championship.
"But it was good to put a marker down. With our full complement of players we look very difficult to beat because we know we can rattle the scoreboard.
"In our two worst performances - against Ireland and Italy - we scored just 26 points with players missing. In the others, against Wales, Scotland and France, two of them away from home, we scored 41, 27 and 47.
"Against France we've stepped up. The forwards have done well, we've kicked well and attacked them through the centre - Tom Casson was outstanding there - and we made good decisions. We might not have been good enough to have won the Six Nations overall but we know where we stand."