Deja Vu As Young England Send Australia Packing

England Under 20's 18 vs 13 Australia Under 20's 

It hardly seems as if nine months ago thousands of Englishmen across the country crowded around television screens quietly resigned to the fact that England were on their way out of the Rugby World Cup after a dire display in the pool stages only to be sent into a frenzy of ecstasy after watching the English pack scrum Australia backwards and out of the tournament.

The Under Twenty's re-match of the quarter final may not have had the same effect on the rugby world, but was nonetheless a gutsy and at times desperate performance by the young England team led so confidently by London Wasps Hugo Ellis—who ably guided England to grand slam success only months ago.

Just as Australia had been in Marseilles their under twenty counterparts were the betting man's tip to win at Rodney Park and were assumed by many to sweep England aside and march onto the Cardiff semi-final. England however, firmly aware of their underdog status and one has to say probably quietly relishing the title, played the more intelligent of the rugby and Miles Benjamin—the pacey Worcester wing—scored their two tries and secured the win in the dying minutes after a somewhat awkward charge-down settled in goal and waited for him to pounce.

The first of Benjamin's tries, and first blood to England, was to come in the 14th minute after a 25 metre dash took him clear and over the line after some smart off-loading in the preceding plays. The rest of the half was an attritional battle for inches and the Australian Quade Cooper and English Alex Goode traded penalties to make the score 11-6 to England at half time.

If Australia had looked overwhelmed in the first half the same was not going to be said of the second. They had struggled early on in turning their territorial advantage into point-scoring opportunities but came out full of steam in the second half and took England to the sword. England on the other hand began to slump after it was deemed captain Hugo Ellis had committed one too many infringements at the breakdown and was sent to the sin-bin. Australia capitalised by scoring in the 59th minute courtesy of wing Ratu Nasiganiyavi, however this would transpire to be one of the few moments he would enjoy ball in space as Australia criminally and consistently underused his potential as a game breaker.

Australian full-back Haylett-Petty proved to be the spanner in his own team’s works after a shaky all-round performance from both himself and the inexperienced fly half Quade Cooper provided England plenty of solid attacking ball from mis-hit kicks and speculative touch finders which found only England’s back three. It was one such show of inexperience as the game arrived at its final minutes that provided Benjamin, and England, with their second score of the game. Haylett-Petty, under pressure from England’s blitz defence attempted to clear his lines but instead found only Alex Tait who awkwardly charged down the kick with his flank and sent it bouncing towards the try line. On cue Benjamin was there to mop up Taits’s charge-down and touched the ball down to the wild yells of his team-mates. Goode was on hand to kick the conversion to make it 18-11 and England were heading to Cardiff.

By no means an attractive game, and far from the festival of tries which had been expected, this was an England vs Australia clash of old, relying on a staunch and physical forward battle. Rugby is rarely pretty, but ugly wins are as good as any and England now travel to Cardiff to face a South African team bubbling with confidence. As any rugby fan will tell you if there is a side to over-turn the underdog title it is England and the momentum is now with Hugo Ellis and his England side as they attempt to replicate their Six Nations success on the world stage. Do they dare believe that they could be the best in the world?

England: N Cato; S Stegmann, L Eves, J Turner-Hall, M Benjamin, A Goode, J Simpson, N Catt, J Gray, A Corbisiero, S Hobson, G Gillanders, J Fisher, C Clark, H Ellis (captain).

Australia: D Haylett-Petty; B Connor, R Horne, B Tapuai, J Sovala Futi, Q Cooper, W Genia, B Daley, J Hanson, D Palmer, S Wykes, R Simmons, B Coridas, D Pocock (captain), B McCalman.

Scores:
England:
Tries:Benjamin (2)
Conversions:Goode
Penalties:Goode (2)

Australia:
Tries:Nasiganiyavi
Conversions:Cooper
Penalties:Cooper (2)

Yellow cards:
England:Ellis (56min)
Australia:Coridas (68min)