Four Albertians were in the NZ Rugby Under 20 team that beat England 64-17 in the Under 20 World Cup final in Georgia on Monday, June 19.
MAGS’ 2016 First XV Vice Captain Caleb Clarke scored six tries through the tournament, including a hat trick against Ireland and a try in the team’s 39-26 semi-final win over France.
His Albertian team-mates were Rob Cobb, Samuel Slade and Ezekiel Lindenmuth.
Commentators described New Zealand’s win as emphatic, devastating and their style as formidable. The “Baby Blacks” scored 10 tries to England’s three. English captain Zach Mercer said “I’ve never witnessed a team with that sort of spirit before that just kept coming and coming like that… All credit to New Zealand.”
New Zealand captain Luke Jacobson, who scored two tries in the final, was able to match the achievement of his older brother Mitchell from two years ago by winning the tournament – New Zealand’s sixth victory in the tournament’s 10 year history.
“It feels amazing, it’s been our goal for a long time,” said Luke Jacobson. “We had a discussion in the team about keeping up the chat and staying really positive. That’s what we did today, we were talking left and right and everybody was staying on the same page.”