OTD: U20 Men win 2014 Junior World Championship
On this day in 2014 England U20 Men claimed the World Junior Championship title by beating South Africa 21-20 in the final.
Handre Pollard and Billy Burns both scored early penalties before South Africa’s Jesse Kriel scored the opening try.
Aaron Morris closed the gap with a huge penalty from within his own half before Nick Tompkins burst through the line to set up Nathan Earle to score in the corner and give England the lead at half-time.
Burns and Pollard traded penalties again until a powerful rolling maul saw replacement Joel Conlon bundle over with Burns converting to extend England’s lead to eight points.
Kriel scored his second and Pollard added the extras to make it a one-point game, but England held out to secure back-to-back Junior World Championships.
England: Aaron Morris, Howard Packman, Nick Tompkins, Harry Sloan, Nathan Earle, Billy Burns, Henry Taylor; Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi, Tom Woolstencroft, Paul Hill, Maro Itoje (captain), Charlie Ewels, Ross Moriarty, Gus Jones, James Chisholm.
Replacements: Jack Walker, Alex Lundberg, Biyi Alo, Hayden Thompson-Stringer, Joel Conlon, Callum Braley, Sam Olver, Henry Purdy.
South Africa: Warrick Gelant, Dan Kriel, Jessie Kriel, Andre Esterhuizen, Sergeal Petersen, Handre Pollard (captain), JP Smith; Thomas du Toit, Corniel Els, Dayan van der Westhuizen, JD Schickerling, Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, Jacques Vermeulen, Cyle Brink, Aidon Davis.
Replacements: Joeseph Dweba, Pierre Schoeman, Wilco Louw, Victor Sekekete, Jean-Luc du Preez, Mthokozisi Mkhabela, Jean-Luc du Plessis, Duhan van der Merwe.
U20s to Senior Men
Current senior squad members Maro Itoje and Charlie Ewels both started that game in the second-row and Itoje captained the side during the final.
Since then, Itoje has gone on to become a regular fixture in the England Men’s squad with great success.
He has won 81 caps and won the Guinness Six Nations in 2016, 2017 and 2020, as well as representing the British and Irish Lions against both New Zealand and South Africa.
Bath lock Ewels has won 30 caps and was also part of the side that won the 2020 Six Nations and recently captained England A in their 91-5 win over Portugal.
The next generation
England U20 begin their World Rugby U20 Championship against Argentina on Saturday 29 June, before taking on Fiji and familiar foes South Africa in their remaining group games.
England U20 Men’s 2024 World Rugby U20 Championship fixtures
Matchday 1 (29 June) - England vs. Argentina – Athlone Stadium - (13:00 BST kick-off)
Matchday 2 (4 July) - England vs. Fiji – Athlone Stadium - (15:30 BST kick-off)
Matchday 3 (9 July) - South Africa vs. England – Athlone Stadium - (18:00 BST kick-off)
Knockout matches
Matchday 4 (Sunday 14 July)
Matchday 5 (final and ranking matches, Friday 19 July)
How to watch
The games will be streamed live on RugbyPass TV - a free streaming service from World Rugby - and can be viewed in a dedicated App as well as via your browser. It is a free service - all you need to do is create an account.
To sign up and watch the U20s Men simply go to rugbypass.tv and input your email address.
