European competition continues in France with Junior Touch Championship return

European international Touch continues this week, as four junior England teams head to France’s heartlands for the 2022 Junior Touch Championships, which begin on Friday, August 12th.

England is the reigning champion nation from the 2019 JTC, but with three years since that weekend on the outskirts of Paris there has inevitably been significant change in the teams which are travelling to Vichy.

England has entered teams into all four categories, Mixed 15, Mixed 18, Boys 18 and Girls 18, and they will all face stiff challenges during the three days of competition.

Vichy itself offers a very different setting to Paris, with the town having become part of the transnational UNESCO World Heritage Site ‘Great Spa Towns of Europe’ in 2021. Vichy, which was first settled by the Romans in 52BC, lies on the banks of the river Allier and is less than an hour’s drive from Clermont-Ferrand, one of Europe’s great rugby towns.

The JTC will be staged at Centre Omnisports de Vichy, a multi-sport facility set in 120 hectares of wooded land that includes sports halls, tennis courts, climbing wall as well as football and rugby pitches.

The Mixed 15 has a five-team pool which includes France, Ireland, Wales and Belgium. The teams will play each other twice in a round-robin format, with the team that finishes top of the pool being crowned the overall champion.

“I'm really excited for the weekend,” says new Head Coach, Claire Rylance. “It's been great to see most of the squad in action at Elite and Development NTS events this summer and they really came together as a unit at our final camp. There's a great vibe in the squad.

“With no Juniors competition since 2019 it’s really difficult to predict what’s going to happen this weekend. Wales are historically strong rivals of ours but I also wouldn't discount the French wanting to put on a show on home turf!”

The Mixed 18 team has a four-team pool which includes France, Wales and Belgium. These teams will play each other twice, with first playing fourth and second playing third in the two semi-finals, with a final to decide who takes home the silverware.

Sam Lawton-Davies has stepped up from Assistant Coach in 2019 to be Head Coach this time around, and agrees with Rylance that having players experience the National Touch Series is a good development opportunity.

“It’s been great to see so many of the team playing at Elite and Development level in the Mixed National Touch Series, which has undoubtedly aided all of their development,” he comments. “It’s also been great how the team have used the last couple of training sessions to prepare, particularly the full weekend camp in Nottingham. This camp allowed us to develop our style of play and perfect core skills, while also becoming closer as a team.

“Wales and France are the other established teams in the division, with both being our biggest rivals historically. Both teams’ success at the recent Euros will make for tough and interesting games. Meanwhile Belgium are an unknown as they are entering the Mixed 18s division for the first time at a JTC, but we are looking forward to testing ourselves against new opposition.”

The Boys 18 is an all Home Nations affair, with England playing Ireland and Wales three times each across the long weekend.

“The JTC is always a unique and special environment to be in,” says Head Coach Jon Weston-Stanley, who coached the team to its 2019 title. “We have lots of young players making their international debut and as a coach you know almost nothing about your opposition from a tactical perspective, so there's lots to manage in the moment.

“The best we can do is drill the team’s core skills and focus on our game plan until we get a better understanding of what our opposition are bringing during the course of the competition.”

England, Ireland and Wales are joined by France in the Girls 18 competition. As with the Mixed 18, the teams play each other twice during the pool stages before semi-finals and finals on day three.

Andy Penniceard coaches the Mixed 15 team to a Gold medal in 2019, and is looking forward to another experience in France working with talented youngsters from across England.

“This year‘s Junior Touch championship in Vichy is going to be challenging but incredibly exciting for the team,” he says. “They have worked well together in the few training sessions we have had and have a really good energy and team spirit.

“It is going to be a tough competition with all the other teams being in similar situations so impossible to gauge who to put your money on. I can’t wait for the whistle to go for our first tap off against Wales!”

CLICK HERE to see all of the England teams’ fixtures over the course of the weekend. Field 1 is being live streamed, and if you are not at the tournament then you can watch all the action by clicking on the camera icon next to the relevant fixture.

Show your support on social media by tagging @EnglandTouch and #OneEngland! And we wish all our teams and their supporters safe travels to Vichy!