Band of brothers grab the glory

ENGLAND overcame an experienced Junior World Cup-winning France side littered with Top 14 talent as Mark Mapletoft's 'band of brothers' secured a dramatic title win in Pau that showcased why the future of English rugby looks so bright.

- BEN JAYCOCK

In a weekend of no Top 14 or ProD2 action, an incredible 240 professional club appearances had been amassed by France's squad that included 23st 6lb, 19-year-old second row Posolo Tuilagi, who had been starring for Fabien Galthie's side in the men's tournament during previous weeks.

That figure dwarfed the 22 top-flight appearances of England's side - especially as eight of that tally came from Sale's breakthrough prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour.

But that was never going to be used as an excuse for England.

Following last week's crushing draw against Ireland which denied the Grand Slam, this was the litmus test to see if England could bounce back in front of a boisterous capacity crowd in the south of France.

England's solidarity and belief, which has been echoed by the coaching staff and players throughout the tournament, was firmly on display as the visitors secured a remarkable comeback victory from 21-5 down which was steered by the influential Northampton Saints scrum-half Archie McParland, but it was a collective top draw performance from the men in white.

Head coach Mapletoft said: "That's as good as it gets. We did all the preparation we could, knew they'd be fully loaded but didn't expect (Posolo) Tuilagi to be back. In a weird way all of that probably added fuel to the fire, we weren't angry about anything, it was more how it was a long trip and we knew how tough it would be.