ENGLAND U20s hoisted the Rugby World Championship for the first time since 2016 during their recent trip to South Africa.
The final took place in Cape Town on Friday July 19 and it was a 21-13 victory over France that sealed the deal.
Four wins and a draw helped power England to Six Nations glory earlier this year and they now have a second trophy to show for this brilliance.
Starting at fly-half in the final was Teignmouth’s own Ben Coen and he labelled this success as “something you dream of”, and “for it to actually happen makes all of the hard work worthwhile”.
Ben actually started the tournament opener against Argentina on the bench and after making a big impact as a substitute, he established himself in the XV for the remainder.
Following on from the Pumas win, England’s youngsters went on to beat Fiji and South Africa in the group stages as well, before disposing of Ireland and the French in the knockouts.
When it comes to the feeling after the final whistle, Ben admitted: “I had a tear in my eye and took a moment to myself to take it all in.” He also says, “I’m still pinching myself” and described the whole experience as “surreal”.
Mark Mapletoft’s side have boasted a lot of unity and Coen confirmed this; “As a group we are very close-knit, the word ‘brotherhood’ is thrown around a lot in sport but I genuinely believe the team were a group of brothers. Even as someone who only came into the group later on, I immediately felt part of it.
“Throughout the tournament we felt we were building and always had the goal of winning it at the back of our minds.”
Ben wasn’t alone on this journey either as he was accompanied by dad Lawrence for some of the visit to South Africa.
Lawrence spoke of being “Incredibly proud of Ben- not just for winning the World Cup but the resilience, determination and commitment he has shown to get to this point,” going on to point out that “Dreams do come true.”
He felt, “very lucky and privileged to be able to make it to Cape Town with my brother for the first two games. To see him come on against Argentina for his first cap and then start against Fiji is something I will never forget. We were then so fortunate to be invited to the England hotel and watch his cap presentation; a moment that can never be relived.”
Friends and family gathered at Teignmouth RFC to watch the final and so Ben was representing his hometown as well as his country on the way to the ultimate success.