Young stars need more room to grow

A FASCINATING Junior World Cup has reached the business end of affairs so it’s not too late to parachute in and catch some of the excellent action on the World Rugby stream which has been working pretty well while ITV also put a highlights package together.

- BRENDAN GALLAGHER

The two semi-finals – France v England and South Africa v Ireland – will be staged at Athlone Stadium today and medal matches at the same venue in midweek. It’s been a pretty vintage tournament, played in wildly varying weather conditions with a stack of great rugby and occasional moments of youthful naivety and poor decision-making.

Georgia narrowly missed out on a semi-final place, Italy recorded an historic win over South Africa and, with the exception of Japan, the standard has been even and very competitive.

Let’s pause though to consider what happens next for these young tyros. I mention that because yet again France are going great guns and frankly it will be a surprise if they don’t claim a third title on the bounce although of course, thanks to Covid, the last of those titles was in 2019. This plethora of young talent is frequently mentioned, rightly so, when considering the rise and rise of Les Bleus but it’s only half the picture.

Let’s take the 2016 JWC for example when England were the dominant team, hammering Ireland in the final and South Africa in the semi-finals. Of that squad only two players – Max Malins and Joe Marchant – have progressed to have significant senior England careers and neither as yet has nailed down a starting spot. Johnny Williams has made a few starts for Wales after switching allegiance but many of those involved, alas, have not made the impact you might have hoped for. That includes skipper Harry Mallinder for whom great things were predicted.