England Vs France U20

Great game last night, really got me in the mood for todays action!

England were crowned champions after a closely matched contest. France were on top for large parts of the game particularly the first half but England started the second half well and finished very strongly in the final 10 mins. Really liked the performance of the young welsh ref who simply did not allow players to seal off the ball by going off their feet at every opportunity, he was really hot on it, instantly penalising offenders. The ref's interpretation allowed the game to flow and made it very enjoyable to watch, coupled with the high skill level of the players and a positive attitude towards attacking rugby made it great. I often find the game less cynical at this level and wonder why the refs are not able to control the game to the same extent at test level.

Anyway good game and some talent for the future, the french 9, merritt I think was his name, really pulled the strings and James Chisholm the england number 8 (brother of quins ross). Also Marchant the England 12 looked dangerous whenever he was near the ball.

Chisholm Minor has played a couple of senior games for Quins and does not look out of place in the adult side. Definitely one to watch

England well deserved winners in the end. A great group of players coming through. just how many of these players will make it into the senior England team remains to be seen, i fully expect Chisholm to at least make the squad sooner rather than later.

Marchent looked electric yesterday, looking forward to seeing him break into the Quins team. Is he usually a 13?

Chisholm is one to watch for certain. He's got a great range of skills. Not his best game though, he really struggled off the base of the scrum and the French gang tackle approach limited his fabulous floating game. The Sky presenters had already decided he was man of the match before kick off.

There's another group of talented players right there though if they want to retain the JWC then they'll need to find a cohesive midfield pairing as currently Marchant fades in and out of games and hasn't really sparked with any of the other centres. Maybe moving him out to 13 and utilising a second playmaker at 12 like Bryant or Mallinder would work.