Young Souths’ flyhalf Harry McLaughlin-Phillips produced a mature and controlled performance to help the Magpies beat GPS 31-26 in his last Premier Rugby hit-out before leaving for the U20s World Cup. 

Souths scored twice in the final 10 minutes to beat Jeeps and secure second spot on the Hospital Cup ladder, with McLaughlin-Phillips kicking 18 of his side’s 31 points at Yoku Road.

“It was a great result,” the flyhalf told Rugby News.

“We’ve won a few games away from home now and I don’t think we’d won at Yoku Road for quite a while now so that’s given the group plenty of confidence. 

“We played a different sort of style to what we’d played in previous weeks but it was good to see that we can win games playing that way.”

McLaughlin-Phillips will spend the next month with the Junior Wallabies but should return in time to play at least two or three club games at Souths before the end of the regular season. 

He’s hoping he’ll return to a side ready to make a run at the finals. 

“We’ve got a young crew at Souths this year and we’ve all been thrown in together a bit but everyone is buying in and enjoying their footy, which is easy to do when the results are going your way. 

“There’s plenty of excitement around the place already. Obviously Souths have such a rich history and there are a lot of Old Boys that still get down there and want to see us do well.

“That’s really pushing all of us because we want to help get the club back to where it used to be.”

McLaughlin-Phillips joined the Australian U20s squad in Sydney this week for a final camp before they depart for the U20s World Cup in South Africa. 

The Nathan Grey coached side will face Georgia, Italy and Ireland in the pool stages, which begin on June 29, and the flyhalf said he was excited about testing himself on the world stage. 

“The main thing I want to focus on individually is how I control the game against different oppositions. We’re playing against three Northern Hemisphere teams in the pool stage and they’ll play a different style of rugby to what we’re used to. 

“We need to adapt to that and then try to take control of the game and play the type of footy we want to play.”

Australia beat South Africa and led New Zealand late in the match in warm up games played on the Sunshine Coast last month and McLaughlin-Phillips said he’s confident the Junior Wallabies will be right in the mix in South Africa. 

“It’s a really good squad and we’ve got plenty of talent, especially in our backline,” he said. 

“Angus Staniforth from the Brumbies has probably been the player that has stood out the most in my opinion, he’s electric and adds a lot of energy to the team on the training paddock. 

“It’s a different feel to last year. We’re a bit younger but I think we’ve got a bit more size then we did last year, particularly in the forward pack. 

“Everyone has just got to focus on doing their job. We don’t need 15 blokes trying to play razzle dazzle and we don’t need 15 blokes trying to run over the opposition. We just need everyone to focus on their job and if we can do that, then I think we’ll have every chance over there.”