Saint Alex ready for England"s big Day

Saints scrum-half Alex Day does not believe England Under 20s’ Six Nations win over Wales will have any bearing on the result of Sunday’s IRB Junior World Championship final.

The Red Rose claimed a superb 28-15 victory in Colwyn Bay back in March to clinch the Six Nations title and deny Wales the Grand Slam.

The two teams square up in a tournament decider again this weekend as both bid to win the world title.

And Day, who helped England to an historic 33-21 success against New Zealand in the semi-final, is focusing on the future rather than the past.

He said: “We haven’t really paid much attention to Wales. We played them in the Six Nations a few months back but it’s a different sort of environment now and it’s going to be a very different game.

“It’s a big challenge, but one we’re looking forward to.”

While England claimed their first ever win over New Zealand at Under 20 level to book their place in the final, Wales kept their nerve to beat South Africa 18-17.

Both performances were hugely impressive and Day knows there is little between the two sides going into Sunday’s showdown in Vannes.

“It (the win against New Zealand) was a big boost, but we’re under no illusions,” he said. “Wales beat South Africa, who beat us earlier in the tournament, so we’re not going to rest on our laurels after that game.

“We’ve been working hard in training but they’ll be really confident after that South Africa win. We’ve got to try to do what we do in training on the pitch.”

Day couldn’t have asked for a much better tournament so far, playing a key role in the New Zealand triumph and also being handed the captaincy for the game against the USA.

England won that match 109-0 and the Saints youngster admits he’s extremely content with the way things have been going.

“I’ve been happy,” said the 20-year-old. “It’s been going well.

“I was lucky enough to captain against the USA and I had the starts against South Africa and New Zealand, who are the two best teams in the world, so that was really good.

“The boys made it really easy for me to captain the side, everyone got behind me.

“We knew we had to do a job on the day and to score a fair few points to try to qualify. I’m pleased we managed to do that.

“I wasn’t really focusing on the captaincy that much, but it was a nice touch to have it.”

Saint Alex ready for England"s big Day