Three months after finishing as also-rans in this year's U20 Six Nations, England are just 80 minutes away from being crowned world champions.
The introduction of proven Premiership performers such as stand-in captain and fly-half Harry Mallinder and midfield duo Joe Marchant and Johnny Williams has added a hitherto unseen cutting edge to an England squad looking to match the achievement of the 2013 and 2014 sides who won the tournament.
Standing in their way, though, are a buoyant Ireland team whose confidence is sky-high after victories against Six Nations Grand Slam winners Wales and reigning champions New Zealand en route to their first ever World Rugby U20 Championship final. They also had the upper hand in the Six Nations meeting with England, at Kingston Park in Newcastle, after coming back from 17-6 down at half-time to win 26-22.
For Mallinder, who has worn the armband since hooker Jack Walker was ruled out of the tournament through concussion, the excitement is tangible as he prepares to lead the side out in Saturday’s eagerly-awaited finale at the AJ Bell Stadium in Manchester.
“We didn’t come here just to experience a final, we have come to win the thing," the Northampton Saints man boldly declared.
“We’ve seen players before us go on and make history for themselves but for us this is a different group of lads, we are starting again almost. We want to create something special for ourselves and we have an opportunity to do that and we can’t wait for it. Everyone is excited and the mood in the camp is great."
England confirmed their place in the U20 Championship final for the fourth year in a row on the back of pool wins over Italy, Scotland and Australia and a superb first-half showing against South Africa in the semi-final, when Martin Haag's charges had the game wrapped up before half-time after scything through their opponents to score five tries before the break.
“I think the first half against South Africa was a great performance from us but we know if we want to beat Ireland this weekend we’ll have to improve our performance again," said Mallinder.
“I think we have certainly developed from the beginning of the tournament to where we are now in all aspects of our game. Our intent to play has been excellent from one to 23, everyone is moving the ball and playing really well. Attacking-wise we have been really strong and also in defence we’ve also improved.”
Ireland showed tremendous character and no little skill to come through a pool containing Wales, New Zealand and Georgia unbeaten, and England will have to be at their best from an attacking perspective if they are to become the first host nation to win the competition since South Africa in 2012.
"We didn’t come here just to experience a final, we have come to win the thing"
“Ireland are a very strong side and they have done well to get to the final and it is going to be a tough challenge for us," added Mallinder. "But we are concentrating on ourselves more than anything else. We know that if we get our preparation right and we put in a performance we expect and hope on Saturday, we’ll be in a good place.”
The never-say-die spirit that Ireland showed in overturning an 11-point half-time deficit against England back in late February, was evident again in the opening game of the U20 Championship, against Wales.
“The most pleasing aspect of the Wales game was the character shown, we were 17-0 down. It was similar when we went away to England in the Six Nations and we were down a lot but the boys believed in the product and stuck at it and got the win," remarked Ireland captain James Ryan.
Ryan also cited the ground-breaking 33-24 win over New Zealand as another highlight of the campaign to date.
"Against New Zealand, the defensive performance in the rain was really pleasing. We took a lot of their space with our line speed. To be the first Irish men’s team to beat New Zealand was a real highlight, that was a bit of history for us and a real proud moment.”
Victory over England on Saturday would eclipse anything achieved before, though.
“We are proud to be where we are, we have made a bit of history but we don’t want to settle for second place. It would mean everything for us as a group because we have put a lot of time into this. For Irish rugby it would be huge.”
"We are proud to be where we are, we have made a bit of history but we don’t want to settle for second place. It would mean everything for us as a group"
Both England coach Martin Haag and his Ireland counterpart Nigel Carolan have kept faith with the line-ups that impressed in the semi-finals.
THIRD PLACE PLAY-OFF: ARGENTINA V SOUTH AFRICA
It may not have been the game he was hoping to celebrate his 19th birthday in but for South Africa full-back Curwin Bosch the opportunity to win the bronze medal and the tournament’s golden boot is a present worth having.
Player of the Tournament nominee Bosch goes into the third-place play-off against Argentina with 59 points, 14 clear of nearest rival and England captain Harry Mallinder. He is one of nine South African players to retain their place from the semi-final loss to England with number eight Junior Pokomela taking over the captaincy from the suspended Jeremy Ward.
Argentina make nine changes, two of them positional, to the side that was beaten 37-7 by Ireland in the semi-final. The positional switches see the highly-rated Marcos Kremer move to second-row from flanker with Vincente Boronat switching from number eight to fill the vacant blindside flanker spot.
Saturday’s match brings the curtain down on head coach Dawie Theron’s reign in charge of the Junior Springboks after six years.
FIFTH PLACE PLAY-OFF: AUSTRALIA V NEW ZEALAND
Defending champions New Zealand make two changes to their pack as they look to avenge their first ever loss to Australia at the Oceania Rugby U20 Championship back in May with Ayden Johnstone and Marino Mikaele-Tu’u returning at prop and number eight respectively.
Peter Umaga-Jensen, the nephew of former All Blacks captain Tana, makes his first appearance in the match-day squad after being called up as an injury replacement for Jordan Trainor. He was due to start on the bench in place of the suspended Malo Tuitama, but an injury to Jonah Lowe means he comes onto the left-wing.
Australia, who are bidding to finish fifth for a third year in a row, have made three changes to their starting line-up from the victory over Scotland with Angus Scott-Young and Liam Wright coming into the back row and Nick Jooste at fly-half in place of Mack Mason, who has caught the eye in the tournament.
SEVENTH PLACE PLAY-OFF: SCOTLAND V WALES
Harrison Keddie captains Wales from number eight as Jason Strange’s side look to follow up the narrow 18-15 win they enjoyed over Scotland en route to the Six Nations Grand Slam.
Bryce Morgan comes into the second row to allow Shane Lewis-Hughes to move to blindside flanker to replace captain Tom Phillips, who misses out through illness. The two other changes to the pack are at hooker and openside with Dafydd Hughes and Morgan Sieniawski replacing Liam Belcher and Josh MacLeod. In the backline Jarrod Evans (fly-half), Harri Millard (inside centre) and Rhun Williams (full-back) come in.
Scotland have also rung the changes, six of them equally split between forwards and backs. George Thornton and Callum Sheldon get the nod at prop for this British encounter, while Alex Craig comes in at blindside flanker. Charlie Shiel will direct operations at scrum-half and the other changes in the backline come on the wing and at full-back, with Cammy Gray and Ruairi Howarth, who makes his first appearance of the tournament, stepping in.
NINTH PLACE PLAY-OFF: GEORGIA V FRANCE
Georgia captain Vasil Lobzhanidze shifts out one position to fly-half as Georgia look to get one over on the country where he will play his club rugby next season. Lobzhanidze, who has signed for Top 14 side Brive in 2016-17, partners Gela Aprasidze, a makeshift combination that worked well in the latter stages against both Wales and Italy.
Anthony Belleau by contrast moves in one position to fly-half and assumes the captaincy of a Les Bleuets side showing 13 changes, three of them positional, from the team that defeated Japan 41-27 on Monday to guarantee their place in the 2017 edition. Regardless of the result against Georgia, France will record their lowest ever finish in the U20 Championship.
11TH PLACE PLAY-OFF: ITALY V JAPAN
Japan opt for continuity with an unchanged line-up named for the relegation decider against Italy.
Italy’s chances of avoiding a third relegation from the U20 Championship will no doubt hinge on how well they manage the threat posed by Ataata Moeakiola on the right wing. Moeakiola, one of seven players in the Japanese starting XV with test caps to their names, tops the try charts with six and is also one of five nominees for Player of the Tournament accolade.
Prop Marco Riccioni, an ever-present in the front row for Italy in Manchester, assumes the captaincy again with squad captain Davide Fragnito, who led the Azzurrini in Monday’s 18-17 loss to Georgia, dropping to the bench.
The loser of the match will compete at the World Rugby U20 Trophy in 2017 and be replaced by Samoa.
The U20 Championship matches will, subject to geo-blocking in some territories, be streamed live on www.worldrugby.org/u20. Stay in touch via @WorldRugby and tell us what you think by using the official #WorldRugby20s.
