England youngsters set up Australia showdown
Scrum.com
June 10, 2008

England U20s will face their Australian counterparts with a place in the semi-finals of the IRB Junior World Championship at stake on Saturday.

Both sides logged their second Pool C victories today - England beating Canada 60-18 and Australia seeing off Fiji - and will meet at Rodney Parade in Newport (2.30pm).

England ran in nine tries against Canada, seven of them in the first half, with Leicester Tigers scrum half Ben Youngs touching down twice.

Also on the scoresheet were Jon Fisher (London Irish), Matthew Cox (Worcester), Mark Odejobi (London Wasps), Rob Miller (Newcastle Falcons), Luke Eves (Bristol) and captain Hugo Ellis (London Wasps).

England were outscored in the second-half for the second game in a row but coach Nigel Redman and captain Hugo Ellis declared themselves satisfied with the performance and the position it puts their side in.

"It was a second win for us, which is very important, and we played some top stuff again in the first half," said Ellis.

"In the second we tried a few too many speculative offloads, but it was a professional performance by the guys and we scored 60 points.

"You'd expect any Southern Hemisphere side to be strong and we know Australia have got a lot of experienced players who've appeared in Super 14.

"But while we'll respect Australia, we're ready to do the jobs we need to make sure we perform really well against them on Saturday."

Redman said: "The rugby we played in the first half was outstanding and to do that again is a credit to the players.

"It sets up a group decider on Saturday and it was important to use our squad in this game and to make sure everyone is fit and healthy.

"Australia are the group favourites, they are the third seeds in the tournament and we're going to have to reproduce those first halves for 80 minutes, both in attack and defence."

He added: "We finished this game with four second rows in the pack and we have athletic players who are able to do that, but sometimes you do lose a bit of your shape.

"But the starting line-up scored enough points in the first half to make the second half one we could cope with.

"Lots of these players - people like James Clark, Courtney Lawes, Ben Youngs, Rob Miller, Charlie Sharples - will all be back next year and this was great experience for them."

Northampton Saints lock Lawes made his debut for the Under 20s in the second row and London Irish hooker Clark also won a first cap off the bench.

"They're both young and the both did well," said Redman.

"Courtney fronted up in the set-pieces and in the tackles and we asked a lot of him to go from second row to back row in the second half."

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