England’s successful summer continues in Vichy

England’s High Performance squad continued to deliver results in this most successful of summers at the 2024 European Junior Touch Championships, winning Gold medals in five of the six competitions and Silver in the sixth.

The Youth teams – Mixed 15, Mixed 18, Boys 18, Girls 18, Men’s 20 and Women’s 20 – headed south for the biggest JTC since Paris 2019, with 27 teams representing nine nations in total.

The Mixed 15 converted their Atlantic Youth Touch Cup silver from 12 months ago into a Gold medal this time around with a perfect campaign of seven wins from seven – plus an impressive try difference of +83 – in the round-robin stage. This put them into a final against France, and while the hosts replied to England’s first score, Claire Rylance’s team built up a cushion which set them on the way to a 9-4 final scoreline.

There was déjà vu for the Mixed 18, however, who, as with 12 months previously, went through the entire three days undefeated until the game which mattered. And as in Nottingham in 2023 it was late tries from Wales which were the heartbreakers in Vichy, England losing 11-13.

The Boys 18 had an Anglo-French clash for their final. The first half was tight and tense, England leading 4-3 at the break. But the second 20 minutes was one-way traffic on the scoreboard, where England scored five more unanswered tries to win 9-4.

It was a similar story for the Girls 18 team, who were also up against France. Les Bleus scored on the stroke of half-time to even things up at 4-4, but after the break the scoring was dominated by the English, 9-5 the final result.

The Men’s 20 and Women’s 20 had matches against their respective 18 teams on Friday and Saturday, before taking on their counterparts from France in a three-Test series for their final games of the weekend.

The Men’s 20, which had had late disruption to the team selection and a loss to England B18 in the friendlies, had a tight series of matches. None of them was won by more than two tries, with England securing the Gold with 5-3 and 8-7 wins in the first two matches before the French secured a consolation 7-6 win in the dead rubber.

Meanwhile the Women’s 20 dominated their opponents, outscoring France by 18 tries across the three matches, 5-1, 8-1 and 12-5 the final results, Adam Brimelow’s players turning on the style.

“We’re extremely pleased to have exceeded our expectations,” commented Head of Elite Coaching, Sammie Phillips. “We ran six camps in preparation for the EJTC and brought the largest support staff with us on an overseas youth tour, including physiotherapists, strength and conditioning coaches, performance psychologists, coach developers, and high performance staff, to support each of our individual squad athletes and their staff.

“This holistic approach to high performance has undoubtedly contributed to Team England’s development and successes on and off the pitch, and we are all very appreciative of the efforts of our volunteer workforce, along with the players’ families, whose support throughout the year is unwavering.

“All of the athletes, parents, coaches and staff were very excited to hear about the Federation of International Touch’s plans for the future, and if this event is an indication of the talent coming through the pipeline then the next few years will be very bright for us.

“In addition to our long-term aspirations, we also hope to take our youth squads on a tour to Australia next year to show them what our sport looks like at the next level, and give them a truly unforgettable experience. Watch this space!

“Many congratulations to everyone for their achievements across another memorable weekend.”