Dave Sisi Blog - U20 Selection and Inside the Camp
My name is Dave Sisi, I'm a 20 year old back row player for London Irish and England under 20s - formally of Tottonians here in Southampton.
I'm currently unavailable for U20 selection having had surgery on my hamstring in September, but my recovery is progressing nicely and I hope to be back in the mix in a couple of weeks.
What my injury has enabled me to do is keep a close eye on the U20 lads over the last few weeks, as we've built up into our 6 nations campaign. The boys have been working hard since the squad was announced at the start of the year, with camps being held all over the country, including the new FA facility in Burton on Trent, St Georges Park. The new facilities there allowed us to train throughout the recent snowy conditions, so we could continue our team preparation going into this year's tournament without any interruptions.
Team camps are long weeks of back to back training, gym sessions and meetings - often meaning early mornings and late evenings to get everything done. We all work hard with the coaches on laying the foundations of the team going forward, be it talking about the way we want to play, our goals for the season or simply choosing our line out options, and so far our camps have gone well. This was evident on Friday night (1st February) in a wet and windy Plymouth, where the boys were set to open our campaign against Scotland! We'd brought the Jocks almost as far south as possible and in front of a full house at Plymouth Albion RFC, the lads dug deep to get us under way with our first victory of the year“ a 15-6 England win!
The game itself was a good one to watch. There was a strong downhill wind, which made it tough for us to clear our lines when we needed to and which allowed the Scots to put pressure on us and get some early points on the board. It also meant kicking to touch wouldn't be as fruitful as we hoped and forced our half backs, Alex Day and Henry Slade, to make some big decisions. The set piece was our rock all game, in particular our scrums which were well lead by our hooker Max Crumpton. The scrummaging performances from all our front row were outstanding and they were rewarded with the first points in the game - a penalty try. Our defence also held strong, with big performances from our back row guys, with the likes of Ross Moriarty countering well and we made it hard for the Scots to get at us. In the second half we played with the wind and got through the phases more, bringing our strike runners like Anthony Watson and Jack Arnott into the game, and we played some exciting rugby. This was highlighted by a well taken try from our prop Luke Cowan-Dickie, who won Man of the Match from the team for his all-round performance, set piece and in the loose. Our discipline was good all game and this ultimately allowed us to see the end of the game out, against a gutsy Scotland side.
The feeling in camp after the game was positive. A first win under our belts adds some momentum and confidence to the team. However, there are plenty of things still to improve on and we are looking no further than our next game - Ireland away at the end of this week. Having played the Irish a few times at age group level, if there's one thing you can always guarantee, it's that mentally they always turn up. We must be on our game and front up to the physical challenge that a firing Irish team is sure to bring. My 'one to watch' over the next week is prop Kyle Sinclair. We'll be looking to the likes of Kyle to lead another positive scrum performance and take the game to the Irish.
It wasn't the first time I've had to watch from the stands, and won't be the last, but after being out injured for some time, watching the lads pull on the England jersey offers just the motivation I need to get back as soon as I can.
Wish all the squad the best of luck for the game on Friday night. As for me, I'll crack on with my final few weeks of rehab and hope to be available for selection very soon. Thanks for reading!
You can follow mine and the team's progress on Twitter here - @DavidSisi and @OfficialRFU
