On This Day: England U20 Men crowned world champions for the first time
Take a look back at the 2013 England U20 side that won their first World Championship title.
Picture this: It’s June 2013. Robin Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines’ is at the top of the UK charts; Leicester Tigers have just secured their tenth Premiership title and England U20 are just one game away from securing a first-ever World Championship title.
Their campaign kicked off with a resounding 6-30 victory over tournament hosts France. A Luke Cowan-Dickie try and a double from captain Jack Clifford complimented Henry Slade’s impressive kicking tally; the young Exeter Chief kicked 15 points from the tee to get England’s campaign off to a positive start.
Round two of the pool stages saw England face the then-reigning champions South Africa. They scored 24 points with tries from Harry Sloan, Elliott Stooke and Henry Purdy and another confident kicking display from Slade. However, Robert du Preez’s performance on the tee proved decisive as South Africa emerged 31-24 victors at the sounding of the final whistle.
Determined to get back to winning ways, England had a chance to bounce back in their third fixture of the tournament against the United States, and they did just that scoring 17 tries and conceding just one penalty to secure a 109-3 victory and confirm their spot in the semi-final.
New Zealand topped Pool B, winning all three of their games against Ireland, Australia and Fiji to set themselves up for a semi-final clash with our England team. Tries from Matt Hankin, Tom Smallbone and Anthony Watson made the difference as England won 21-33. They would now face close rivals Wales in the final.
It was not the start to the game that England would have hoped for. Wales took an early lead on 11 minutes as Ashley Evans opened the scoring. A signature Slade penalty countered, but Evans’ second try came shortly after. With a conversion and additional penalty from Sam Davies, Wales led 15-3 at the break.
As the second half kicked off, both teams found themselves unable to convert possession into points. That was, until Jack Nowell scored the first of England’s two tries on the 58-minute mark. Slade converted; they were back in the game. Sam Hill drew the scores level just five minutes to leave Wales stunned, and Slade converted to bring England ahead for the first time in the final.
With the clock winding down, Slade once and twice again capitalised from the boot with two penalty kicks in the closing ten minutes. Mike Fraser blew his whistle for the final time to confirm England as U20 World Champions for the first time with a 15-23 victory.
2013 U20 World Championship-winning side
15. Jack Nowell
14. Anthony Watson
13. Harry Sloan
12. Sam Hill
11. Ben Howard
10. Henry Slade
9. Alex Day
1. Alec Hepburn
2. Luke Cowan-Dickie
4. Tom Price
5. Dom Barrow
6. Ross Moriarty
7. Matt Hankin
8. Jack Clifford ©
Replacements
16. Scott Spurling
17. Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi
18. Tom Smallbone
19. Harry Wells
20. Dave Sisi
21 Callum Braley
22. Olie Devoto
23. Henry Purdy
