England wing Miles Benjamin has the try-scoring ability that marks him out as one of the potential stars of the IRB Junior World Championship that kicks off in Wales on Friday night.

The 20-year-old from Birmingham was arguably the Guinness Premiership’s discovery of the season after touching down on his debut for Worcester Warriors six months ago.

He finished the campaign as the club’s leading try-scorer with 15 and fourth in the Premiership charts with nine, beaten only by Tom Varndell (Leicester Tigers), Matt Banahan (Bath Rugby) and James Simpson-Daniel.

He added another score on his only appearance for England in the 28-15 win over Wales that kick-started their Grand Slam of victories in the RBS Under 20 Six Nations.

After rejoining the squad he believes they can continue their upward curve in the global tournament that starts in Newport with games against Fiji (June 6), Canada (June 10) and Australia (June 14).

England are seeded sixth following their performance at last season’s Under 19 Championship, but made a dramatic improvement under coaches Nigel Redman and Mark Mapletoft.

Benjamin said: “The transformation from last year has been awesome. The guys are much more confident. We’re a close-knit team and everyone believes in each other’s potential and in each other’s ability.

“We’ve all got full seasons under our belts too, in the Premiership, in the A League or on dual registration with National League clubs, so everyone’s come into the tournament feeling good. The Six Nations Grand Slam showed what we’re capable of, so we’re really excited.

“Also, you don’t know how often you’ll be in a team that gets the chance to play against a Southern Hemisphere side. Everyone believes in their ability, but you’ve got to be aware that it’s a massive privilege to be here and you shouldn’t take it for granted.

“We’re also aware that it’s our last year together as an age-group side. Many of the guys have been meeting up for four years now – since they were in England Under 16s – and the chance is there to be the first England age group side to win a major tournament.”

Benjamin is part of a five-strong contingent from Midlands clubs Worcester, Northampton Saints and Leicester Tigers that met up in Newport this week.

His Sixways teammate Matt Cox made his own Premiership debut in the back-row against Lawrence Dallaglio and Wasps, and they are joined by Northampton hooker Joe Gray and lock Courtney Lawes, and Leicester lock Gregor Gillanders and scrum half Ben Youngs.

The theme of transformation is one he picks up as he discusses his own jet-propelled rise thorugh the ranks after seeing what was needed to compete with the world’s best players at the 2007 Under 19 tournament in Belfast.

He pays tribute to his coaches at Worcester and the wings with whom he has been competing for a place – particularly the former All Black Rico Gear who has been his mentor.

“At the start of the season you expect to be competitive – you have to be – and expect to get a chance at some point, but I’ve definitely enjoyed myself a great deal this season,” Benjamin said.

“They (Worcester) said that if in training and in games my performances continued to be beyond my years I’d keep on getting a chance and they stood by me.

“Rico Gear’s been a great influence. We meet formally once a month and informally, too, maybe when he’ll take me to one side at training and pass advice on at the end of a session.

“He’s been so unselfish in sharing his knowledge and experience – nothing’s been too much trouble for him – and Marcel Garvey’s done the same as well, even though we’re all going for the same position.”

The Welsh influence is strong at Sixways, too, where former national coach Mike Ruddock has opened up the team’s style of play even when results might have encouraged him to batten down the hatches to ensure Premiership survival.

“His approach made an immediate difference,” Benjamin added. “Even when the going was tough in the middle of season he kept on believing and gave us the confidence to keep on playing an attacking game.”

ENGLAND UNDER 20 SQUAD

Forwards (14)
Nathan Catt (Bath Rugby)
Calum Clark (Leeds Carnegie)
James Clark (London Irish)
Alex Corbisiero (London Irish)
Matthew Cox (Worcester Warriors)
Hugo Ellis (London Wasps)
Jon Fisher (London Irish)
Scott Freer (Leeds Carnegie)
Gregor Gillanders (Leicester Tigers)
Joe Gray (Northampton Saints)
Scott Hobson (Cornish Pirates)
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints)
Billy Moss (Bath Rugby)
Ben Thomas (Saracens)

Backs (12)
Miles Benjamin (Worcester Warriors)
Noah Cato (Saracens)
Luke Eves (Bristol Rugby)
Alex Goode (Saracens)
Rob Miller (Newcastle Falcons)
Mark Odejobi (London Wasps)
Charlie Sharples (Gloucester Rugby)
Joe Simpson (London Wasps)
Seb Stegmann (Harlequins)
Alex Tait (Newcastle Falcons)
Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins)
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Friday, June 6: England v Fiji, Newport, 7pm
Tuesday, June 10: England v Canada, Newport, 5pm
Saturday, June 14: Australia v England, Newport, 3pm
Wednesday, June 18: Match day four
Sunday, June 22: Finals day

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