England were crowned winners of the World Rugby U-20 Championship after defeating France 21-13 in the final in Cape Town on Friday night.
Joe Bailey and Arthur Green featured for Mark Mapletoft’s side and were part of a select group that achieved the feat of winning the double following their Six Nations triumph.
The match was evenly matched between the teams who beat Ireland and New Zealand respectively in Sunday’s semi-finals, with England leading 7-6 at half-time.
Bailey was the first to score.
The first 40 minutes were marred by errors, with two penalties from France’s Hugo Reus and a try-conversion before and after from second-row Bailey the only two to trouble the scorers.
Centre Sean Carr hit a Bailey shot off the goalpost and then had another miss from the kicking tee, but then recovered and scored.
The England great is “hopeful” to beat the All Blacks and Springboks despite a “frustrating” tour of New Zealand
England struggled at the lineout and were lucky to escape after a try by France full-back Matthijs Ferte was ruled out for a knock-on.
France suffered a major blow early in the second period when number eight Matisse Castro Ferreira was yellow carded for a high tackle on England’s Henry Pollock.
His absence was a major blow as England were leading 15-6 when Ferreira returned after Kerr had taken a penalty and Green had scored an unconverted try.
Introduction #WorldRugbyU20 2024 Award Recipients: @England Rugby 🏴#ENGvFRA pic.twitter.com/f5B6uxr2rU
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) July 19, 2024
Kerr converted two more penalties to extend England’s lead, but France’s play improved greatly in the second half and their title dreams were dashed.
France pulled one back late when Reus converted a Ferté cross, but it was too little too late as England were celebrating winning the Under-20 title in South Africa.
New Zealand 3rd
Meanwhile, New Zealand recovered from a slow start to beat Ireland 38-24 in the third-place playoff.
Earlier at the same venue, hosts South Africa finished in high form in the World Rugby U-20 Championship, finishing in seventh place with a confident win over Wales.
But the most dramatic game of the day so far was Spain’s extra-time win over Fiji, which saw them relegated to the 2025 U-20 Trophy.
Also at Athlone Sports Stadium, Georgia beat Italy 24-13 to claim ninth place, while Argentina beat Australia to claim fifth place.
READ MORE: George Gregan discusses Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies ‘challenge’ ahead of clash with British and Irish Lions