Home
Site Map
Search Advanced Search
Wing Benjamin has high hopes for team

MILES Benjamin believes England's Under 20s have shown that they can go all the way after stunning Australia to reach the semi-finals of the IRB Junior World Championship.

Australia had a side packed with Super 14 players who went into the pool C' decider as third seeds having scored 22 tries in their opening two games.

But they only added one against England at Rodney Parade, a second-half effort from Ratu Nasiganiyavi, before Worcester Warriors wing Benjamin scored his second two minutes from time to clinch a nail-biting 18-13 win.

England's fine defensive effort kept them in the game until Ben Youngs chipped for the corner, Alex Tait charged down the attempted clearance and Benjamin scored his fifth try in four international appearances this season.

Alex Goode converted to add to his two earlier penalties and Australia were kept penned in their own half for the remainder of the match.

England now face South Africa in the semi-finals at the Arms Park in Cardiff on Wednesday (7.15pm), with the winners playing New Zealand or Wales in Sunday's final at Swansea.

"It was a brilliant result, everything we've been working towards for the past six months," said Benjamin.

"It was definitely a challenging game but we've never stopped believing in ourselves as a group.

"There are no superstars in the team. We work hard for each other which you saw with 10 minutes to go. We kept grinding and we got the result.

"We've worked very hard, we went into this game really confident and we believe we can go all the way."

5:44pm Sunday 15th June 2008

Print   Email this   Comment
Add your comment
Please note: to publish your comment you must be registered on this site. If you are already registered, please enter your details below.
Email:
Password:
Archive
Terms & Conditions
Privacy Policy © Copyright 2001-2008
Newsquest Media Group
A Gannett Company
This site is part of Newsquest's audited local newspaper network