England U20s: Coach Mapletoft explains co-captains decision following World Championships squad announcement

Newcastle Falcons fullback Ben Redshaw and Sale Sharks lock Tom Burrow have been named as co-captains for the campaign, with both players bringing different qualities and experiences to the leadership role. While the decision to split the captaincy wasn’t initially part of Mapletoft’s plan, he believes it will serve the squad well during a demanding tournament.

“It was never in the plan and it isn’t designed to be gimmicky either,” Mapletoft said. “I just generally feel they can work together really well to get the most out of the group and take the pressure off each other a little bit by having to do stuff like this all the time. It can get quite draining whilst still trying to train.”

The decision comes after Redshaw captained the side during an uncapped match against Wales a couple of weeks ago, while Burrow led the team through the U20 Six Nations earlier this year. England came close to winning that tournament, but a final-round loss in Cardiff handed the title to France.

Mapletoft has worked closely with both players over the past few years and spoke about their development on and off the pitch.

“They're definitely the two best people to do that,” he said. “I've known both of them a long time and they've been in and around the age group men's pathway for comfortably three and a half years, maybe longer. Been on a number of tours with them, whether it was South Africa with the 18s or the Six Nations in Ireland in 2023, so I know these lads as well as I could.”

Redshaw has had a frustrating season at Newcastle due to injury, but impressed Mapletoft with his response to recent challenges.

“He had a stop-start to the beginning of the season at Falcons and then was looking like he was getting himself in really good shape both on pitch and off pitch and then rolled his ankle in one of those Challenge Cup games right before the Six Nations,” Mapletoft explained.

“So he's probably fresh, that's a real positive for him. He's come back, he's always been quite a worry physically but he is starting to fill out now, get that man strength going. We've thrown some challenges down to Ben. He's not played as much, either for the 20s this year or for Falcons, as he probably should have done due to those injuries, and (I) just threw a little challenge his way after the Wales game to have a bit more influence on what was going on.”

Mapletoft emphasised the value of honest conversations when dealing with players he’s known over several years. He also praised both Redshaw and Burrow for how they’ve worked together in the build-up to the championship.

“They’ve just both good people, clearly very good rugby players. I’ve just been really impressed how they’ve worked together over these couple of weeks,” he said.

“Neither have been able to play two lots of 80 minutes due to where they’ve been at in their development over the last two or three months. Just seeing them work together, seeing the impact they’ve had on the group and hopefully how they can dovetail out in Italy and get the best out of themselves and everybody else.”

Interestingly, both Redshaw and Burrow come from Yorkshire, something that didn’t go unnoticed by Mapletoft, even if he was quick to play down any regional myths.

“Anybody from the 'Shire' would probably tell you it’s something in the water,” he joked. “But I don't know, I'm not from that far up. North East Midlands is as far as I got, unfortunately.”

One area of particular interest for the squad has been at scrum-half, especially after Jack van Poortvliet’s late call-up to the British and Irish Lions training squad due to Jamison Gibson-Park’s injury. That opened up a short-term opportunity for one of the England U20 nines to train with the senior side.

“Jonny Weimann had the opportunity to come in and train this week. Brilliant experience for him so really looking forward to seeing how the three of them, particularly at scrum-half, compete with each other,” he said.

“Archie [McParland]’s been a key part of this group for the last three years really. Unfortunately, he’s been injured since the Six Nations so excited to see him get back onboard. But Jonny’s had a brilliant end to the season and unfortunately Joe Davis got injured in the Wales game. People like Dom Hanson can consider themselves very unfortunate not to be in the party. We’ve got really good strength in depth at nine, luckily.”