Hugo Ellis will tomorrow lead out the England Under-20 side to face New Zealand in the final of the junior world championship in Swansea on a ground that he had the option a couple of years ago of calling home. Ellis, the Wasps No8 who was born in London, captained Wales at Under-16 level, qualifying for the country because his father, Wyn, hailed from Neath. When he had to choose between the land of his father and country of his birth, Ellis plumped for England.
"It was a tough choice, but all the travelling back and for along the M4 took its toll," said Ellis. "I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Wales and experienced some excellent coaching, but England was the better option for my development and to be captaining the side in a world cup final at a great venue is a proud moment for me."
Ellis has reminded Wasps, who have a back row vacancy following the retirement of Lawrence Dallaglio, of what he is capable of by leading a very physical England side from the front and the Premiership champions have been monitoring his progress.
"I have made four appearances in the league off the bench, but my aim now is to break into the first team squad," said Ellis. "Training with Lawrence was a privilege: you can only learn from someone like him. James Haskell and Tom Rees have also been a huge help and James rang me from New Zealand this week to wish me all the best for the final.
"A number of players in our squad know that Sunday will mark the end of our age-group careers. From next week on, it will all be about proving ourselves in the Premiership. As a team, we have shown this year exactly what we are capable of, winning the Six Nations grand slam and defeating Australia and Fiji on the way to the final.
"The rugby has been Premiership quality in terms of intensity. We know how good New Zealand are and I think the best two sides in the tournament have made the final. One of our strengths is that we can play as the conditions demand: we are not wedded to one style, but we appreciate that on Sunday errors have to be kept to a minimum."
New Zealand have in senior world cups often struggled to adapt to knock-out rugby after breezing through the group stage and the junior All Blacks have made the final by scoring 29 tries and leaking just one in their four matches, coughing up a mere 25 points.
"We have had the harder path to the final having had to overcome Australia
and South Africa," said Ellis. "I hope that will work in our favour, but the bottom line is that we are going to have to put in our best performance of the year to make it 10 out of 10 and we are good enough."
A number of England players have enjoyed prominent tournaments, including the Bath prop, Nathan Catt, whose battle with the powerful Australia tight-head, Daniel Palmer, was one of this month's highlights.
"Palmer was the best tight-head I had come up against at age-group level and we had a great battle," said Catt, whose mobility in the loose makes him like an extra flanker. "We got on top of the Australian scrum in the end and we pushed a strong South African pack around, but there is more to this side than the traditional English virtues of set-piece strength and control.
"We can play an expansive game and the coaches trust the players to make decisions as the conditions and game demand. We played at a very high tempo in the Six Nations, but beat Australia through a resolute defence. We had a tough path to the final and we deserve to be there. New Zealand are an excellent side: we did not make an impression on them last year at Under-19 level, but 12 months have made a huge difference in the conditioning of players through their clubs."
Catt has a year to run on his contract with Bath and wants to break into the first team next season. "I have been with the club ever since I left school and it would mean a huge amount to turn up for pre-season training as a world champion."
