First England Under-20 start since National One: England boy-grade boss Mark Mappletoft hailed George Makepeace-Cubitt’s rapid rise from National League One to No.10 in the Six Nations title clash in France on Friday night for his country’s Under-20s.
Ahead of the second-round match at home to Bath in Wales, Makepeace-Cubitt came in from the cold of English third-tier rugby to join an international squad made up of only Gallagher’s Premiership youngsters and Racing 92-linked juniors. Kpoku.
He has not been fazed by experience and his three appearances off the bench have now paved the way for his final round selection at out-half starting this weekend at England’s top-flight Pau. Scotland are one point ahead of hosts Ireland in Cork.
Mapletoft joked last month that he didn’t know Makepeace-Cubitt until he was in the England camp due to a couple of injuries early in the Championship game.
However, he now admits it was a fabricated account, knowing the youngster was part of the London Irish set-up that collapsed with the club’s unfortunate financial demise last year.
First England Under-20 start since National One
Makepeace-Cubitt has returned to his minis club the Rams, playing for them in National One, and Mapletoft described the youngster’s selection to start in the title decider for England U20s as a fine example of someone who continues to believe in putting himself out there. Age-grade path despite one obstacle after another.
“I was a bit tongue-in-cheek when I said I’d never heard of him, I’d obviously heard he did in the U18s,” Mapletoft explained to RugbyPass. ” I first saw him play for London Irish at the U18s in an academy match against Gloucester. First England Under-20 start since National One
. I have known about George for some time. In the interim he had an incredibly mixed bag of fortunes. First England Under-20 start since National One
. Never played for England before. We know a lot about him but really we felt that he potentially lost the game, but he showed incredible resilience to get back to where he was.
. Yesterday [Tuesday] he gave a great presentation from the boys in attack that I’ve seen against the senior pros. Listen, I can’t give him enough credit.
“Hopefully the message is the way to go. People automatically assume that if you don’t sign for a club or that opportunity passes you by, your time is gone and it’s far away. First England Under-20 start since National One
“We called up Max Blinkhorn from Nottingham Uni this year, who unfortunately didn’t pick up a club when he went under Wasps.
“With only 10 Premiership clubs now and potentially fewer opportunities, not everyone is going to get that contract at 18, and it [these stories] are really good adverts to show the resilience and mental toughness to just not give up and stick with it. First England Under-20 start since National One
Makepeace-Cubitt is one of four changes to England Under-20s’ starting line-up at the expense of the benched Josh Bellamy after last Friday’s dramatic 32-all draw with Ireland at The Ray.
Other backline changes include Ben Redshaw switching to left wing and Eoin Jones returning to full-back with Alex Wills missing out. Another first-time starter is James Isaacs, who was selected as hooker with Jacob Oliver moving to the bench. First England Under-20 start since National One
He replaced Olamide Sode, who relinquished his starting pace to Joe Bailey. Regarding Sodeke’s benching, Mapletoft explained: “It’s a mix and match where we’ve been and at the same time we’ve had to make a lot of changes due to injuries and illness. There is a lot of sickness going around.
“Talking to (Ireland coach) Richie Murphy before the game last week, their boys have a lot of viruses around their group as well. Our job is really – and I’m at pains to emphasize this – yes, we had a chance to win the Six Nations but ultimately this is a development program and we want to put ourselves in the best possible position to help these guys develop. First England Under-20 start since National One
“There’s a bit of preparation around it and we think about the combinations and the players we want to start the game with and the players we want to finish the game with. We know we have to be competitive in 80 minutes to get a positive. Result. That’s the game. .We have to make sure. First England Under-20 start since National One