England Under-20s power on

In the Six Nations Under-20, England again won convincingly, scoring six tries to none against Wales, and this weekend they play Italy.

It would seem that the powerful England side is the best to challenge New Zealand hegemony in the Junior World Championships in South Africa in the mid-year.

They seem to have a big squad of top players, leaving them the luxury of changing without weakening.

Results, Round Three:
France vs Scotland, 31-20
Ireland vs Italy, 27-8
England vs Wales, 40-9

Previous results:

Round One
England vs Scotland, 59-3
Ireland vs Wales, 11-6
France vs Italy, 19-5

Round Two
England vs Italy, postponed to 3 March
Wales vs Scotland, 28-15
Ireland vs France, 13-12

Match details:

England vs Wales

England’s Under-20 made it two wins from two in this season’s U20 Six Nations, beating Wales 40-9 in front over 3,400 fans at the Twickenham Stoop.

It was a game for new faces as first time starters Anthony Watson (two), Sam Hill and Josh Basset all scored tries, while Tommy Bell kicked eight points. Luke Cowan-Dickie and Marland Yarde touched down for England’s other tries.

Wales scored first, when their flyhalf Sam Davies, but it was England who got the first try of the match when several phases put Basset over. 7-3. Watson five days after he scored for England Under 18 against France, scored his first try, Davies kicked two penalties and Bell one to make the half-time score 15-9.

The second half scoring all belonged to England and was all fuelled by tries.

The scorers:

For England:
Tries: Bassett, Watson 2, Cowan-Dickie, Hill, Yarde
Con: Bell
Pens: Bell 2

For Wales:
Pens: Sam Davies 2
DG: Davies

The teams:

England: 15 Ben Ransom, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Charlie Walker, 12 Sam Hill, 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Tommy Bell, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Jack Clifford, 7 Chris Walker, 6 Dom Barrow, 5 George Merrick, 4 Tom Price, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Koree Britton, 1 Luke Cowan-Dickie.
Replacements: 16 Scott Spurling, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Nick Auterac, 19 Elliot Stooke, 20 Will Skuse, 21 Alex Day, 22 Henry Slade, 23 Marland Yarde.

Wales: 15 Ross Jones, 14 Harry Robinson, 13 Luke Williams, 12 Cory Allen, 11 Luke Morgan, 10 Sam Davies, 9 Jonathan Evans, 8 Ieuan Jones, 7 Daniel Thomas, 6 Ellis Jenkins, 5 Rhodri Hughes, 4 Matthew Screech, 3 WillGriff John, 2 Kirby Myhill (captain), 1 Rob Evans.
Replacements: 16 Jamie Sollis, 17 Thomas Davies, 18 Samson Lee, 19 Jack Jones, 20 Dan Baker, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Jordan Williams, 23 Iolo Evans.

Referee: Laurent Cardona (France)
Assistant referees: Alexandre Ruiz (France), Sébastien Herbert (France)
TMO: Bruno Bessot (France)

Scotland vs France

Scotland were brave at Murrayfield on Sunday afternoon and brave at Netherdale on Friday night. The Under-20 coach Peter Wright says he has seen a big improvement in performance over their first three games. Scotland were sharp in attack and often looked the more threatening of the two teams.

Wright said: “Physicality is always going to be an issue for us. We have worked hard on the contact areas but I thought we struggled with our set piece. We don’t have the option of fronting up to these bigger sides so we have to play rugby and play at pace.

“We didn’t get enough ball at the start of each half but when we did get it, we were very, very good.

“You’ve got to take the positives,” he added. “What we’ve been working on in training and talking about is happening out on the pitch and that’s a great sign but on one or two occasions it was just individual execution, going high instead of low in the tackle meant they could offload which they’re very good at.”

France attacked earlier and a penalty by scrumhalf Tom Ecochard and a try by captain Karl Chateau gave them an 8-0 lead. At half-time they led 22-13, three tries to one., the third with a powerful run of some 40 metres by Darly Domvo.

France started the second half strongly with a try by Alban Placine but wilted towards the end and Scotland got to 27-21. Mitch Eadie intercepted with empty acres in front of him, only to be penalised for offside, ending Scotland’s real chance of a surprise victory.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries: Chateaux, Danty, Domvo, Placine
Cons: Ecochard 2
Pens: Ecochard 2

For Scotland:
Tries: Sinclair, Hidalgo-Clyne
Con: Leonard
Pens: Leonard 3

The teams:

Scotland: 15 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 14 Jamie Farndale, 13 Robbie Fergusson, 12 Finn Russell 11 Michael Crawley, 10 Harry Leonard (captain), 9 Matt Torrance, 8 Jamie Swanson, 7 Will Bordill, 6 Mitch Eadie, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Adam Sinclair, 3 Alex Allan, 2 George Turner, 1 Jamie Bhatti.
Replacements: 16 Russell Anderson, 17 Gavin Robertson, 18 Callum Maguire, 19 Andrew Redmayne, 20 Callum Reid, 21 Murray McConnell, 22 Jack Bradford, 23 Tom Steven.

France: 15 Maxime Payen, 14 Bastien Fuster, 13 Jonathan Danty, 12 Darly Domvo, 11 Yohann Artru, 10 Enzo Selponi, 9 Tom Ecochard, 8 Karl Chateau (captain), 7 Julien Kazubek, 6 Alban Placine, 5 Johan Aliouat, 4 Bastien Chalureau, 3 Kevin Goze, 2 Jean-Charles Fidinde, 1 Florian Fresia.
Replacements: 16 Carbou, 17 Romain Taofifenua, 18 Jefferson Poirot, 19 Paul Jedrasiak, 20 Jimmy Yobo, 21 Eric Escande, 22 Ilian Perraux, 23 Kelian Galletier.

Referee: Giuseppe Vivarini (Italy)
Assistant referees: Filippo Bertelli (Italy), Giacomo Serchiani (Italy)

Ireland vs Italy

Ireland’s second try, scored just before the end by fullback Shane Layden, and the boot of flyhalf Paddy Jackson made this victory look more comfortable than it was, for Craig Green’s Azzurrini were determined.

At half-time Ireland led four kicks to one and Alex Morsellino, the Italian wing, scored the first try of the match.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries: Henderson, Layden
Con: Jackson
Pens: Jackson 5

For Italy:
Try: Morsellino
Pen: Della Rossa

The teams:

Ireland: 15 Shane Layden, 14 Conor Finn, 13 Chris Farrell, 12 JJ Hanrahan, 11 Foster Horan, 10 Paddy Jackson (captain), 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Jordan Coghlan, 6 Conor Gilsenan, 5 Tadgh Beirne, 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Peter Reilly, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Kyle McCall.
Replacements: 16 James Rael, 17 Des Merrey), 18 Jake Cawley, 19 Daniel Qualter, 20 Aaron Conneely, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Cathal Marsh, 23 Stuart Olding.

Italy: 15 David Odiete, 14 Angelo Esposito, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Andrea Bettin, 11 Alex Morsellino, 10 Riccardo Della Rossa, 9 Guido Calabrese, 8 Alessio Zdrilich, 7 Federico Conforti, 6 Vittorio Marazzi, 5 Matteo Ferro, 4 Alfio Luca Mammana, 3 Antonio Brandolini, 2 Giovanni Maistri (captain), 1 Sami Drissi.
Replacements: 16 Luca Conti, 17 Luca Scarsini, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Ruben Riccioli, 20 Andrea De Marchi, 21 Edoardo Padovani, 22 John Apperley, 23 Filippo Guarducci.

Referee: Cammy Rudkin (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Rob Dickson (Scotland), Adrian Graves (Scotland)
TMO: Jim Yuille (Scotland)