Harry Mallinder has praised the whole team’s performance as England Under-20s secured a comprehensive 48-10 bonus point win over Italy in the pool stages of the World Rugby Under-20s Championship at the Manchester City Academy Stadium.
Speaking after the match in which Mallinder captained the side and scored 12 points from the tee, he said: “It was a great team performance.
“There were six tries from five different players which is an outstanding effort. We’re very pleased with our first game and how we came out of the blocks.”
“It was nice to play my debut. It’s an incredible group of lads and I was very honoured to lead them out.
England’s next match is against Scotland at the same venue on Saturday, June 11th, and Mallinder is under no illusions about the challenge ahead: “Scotland’s going to be a huge challenge for us.
“We will hopefully do our preparation between now and then and hopefully we’ll be in a good place come that game.”