Marcus Smith named in England squad for World U20 Championship

Marcus Smith has been named in the England squad for the World Under 20 Championship in France, which begins at the end of this month.

The 19 year-old fly-half, who is currently with Eddie Jones’ senior squad preparing for the Quilter Cup match against the Barbarians on Sunday, enjoyed a break-out season with Harlequins in 2017-8.

Since his club’s opening fixture of the Premiership campaign at Twickenham on September 2, he played in 27 matches across all competitions, scoring 199 points.

Although Smith has appeared at most England training camps as a ‘apprentice’ player this season, Jones opted against bringing him to South Africa for the three-Test series against the Springboks this June.

Instead, Smith will feature for a strong England U20 squad, which also includes several players with Premiership experience.

Sale Sharks back-rower Ben Curry, Wasps back-rower Tom Willis and London Irish wing Ben Loader have been named alongside Harlequins wing Gabriel Ibitoye – another of Jones’ ‘apprentices’.

England have reached the final of this global tournament for five consecutive years, winning three times in 2013, 2014 and 2015. 

This year’s crop will be coached by Steve Bates, with support from Anthony Allen (backs), Richard Blaze (forwards) and James Ponton (defence). They face Argentina (May 30), Italy (June 3) and Scotland (June 7) in the pool stage with the matches staged at Narbonne, Perpignan and Beziers respectively.

“Selection has been incredibly difficult as there were a lot of players to choose from and in some positions it’s been a really tight call,” explained Bates.

“We saw real glimpses of what this team is capable of during the Six Nations, and I was proud of the way they performed.

“The challenge for us now is to consistently play high-intensity, high-tempo rugby and to turn up the heat on our opposition for the full 80 minutes.

“The World Rugby U20 Championship is a fantastic tournament and for some this will be the pinnacle of their international careers. Some will go on to be very good professionals but not all will play international rugby again so they should look at this as a fantastic opportunity to play on the world stage and showcase their ability while representing England.

“The message going into this tournament is we are expecting much more of the players as individuals and a team and although we have a proud history in this tournament, we want to leave our own legacy.”