Graham Kitchener is determined to seize his big chance to impress in England colours in the IRB Toshiba Junior World Rugby Championship which kicks off in Tokyo, Friday, June 5, 2009.
The former Shrewsbury junior second row, who hails from Baschurch, landed his latest opportunity at under-20 level following a season of hard work and excellent displays, notably with Premiership side Worcester Warriors.
“I’m definitely excited about it all,” he said ahead of tomorrow’s opener with hosts Japan.
“I’ve been building up to this moment all season and it was one of my major goals to come to Japan with England so I can’t wait to play.
“Personally I’m massively ahead of where I wanted to be at the start of the season.
“Getting selected for Worcester’s semi-final on merit was great. I played 16 games for the first team and that was a surprise. With England as well, I think I put in some good performances.
“I’ve matured a lot over the last year, especially at Worcester with the first team squad. You’re playing alongside some seasoned professionals and you have to grow up quite quickly if you’re going to make an impact.
“You can’t be young and I hope that will translate to playing for England and be an advantage in the age group stuff.” Kitchener – who has been tipped for a big future with the full England team – believes the under-20s can go all the way after losing in the final last time out. But he knows consistency will be the key in Japan.
“We’ve got to go into the tournament believing we can win it,” he added. “With the quality we’ve got and the players who’ve been involved in the Premiership this season there’s no reason why we can’t.
“We had spells in the Six Nations – I was only involved for a couple of games – where we played some really good stuff but other times when we were quite poor.
“It’s just a case of getting that consistency of performance right.” England’s under-20 team impressed in the 2008 tournament in Wales when defeating Fiji, Canada, Australia and South Africa before being beaten 38-3 in the final by New Zealand.
Second seeds this year and based in Tokyo, they face host nation Japan tomorrow, before tackling Scotland on June 9 and Samoa on June 13 – hoping to reach the knockout stages on June 17 and 21.