Epsom rugby player Sam Smith has admitted his World Cup U20s semi-final try would have been one to savour had it meant England reached the final.

The 20-year-old Harlequins academy star scored his first of the tournament, but watched a succession of missed tackles cost his side dear in Thursday’s 28-16 defeat to Australia in Argentina.

Smith, one of five Quins men to feature in the clash, opened the scoring, but his side were to trail 28-11 before Gloucester’s Jonny May crossed for a late consolation.

And the former Cranleigh School student admits the defeat certainly took the gloss off his efforts.

“We kept trying to play rugby right to the end as we showed with our last ditch try, which brought a bit of pride back but we're absolutely gutted to be out of this tournament,” he said.

“You're never going to win a game with that many first-up tackles missed so we have ourselves to blame.

“We showed in attack that we could stretch them, but lost the ball when we should have kept it and let them in on some pretty soft tries.

“I finally got a bit of space to run at today and I was really, really happy with my try. Obviously I would have been ten times happier if we'd got the win.”