England for U21 Grand Slam

Only unbeaten side

With just Ireland to play England Under-21 are set fair to win the Under-21 Six Nations with a Grand Slam.

Ireland suffered their third successive defeat and Wales were much too strong for Italy.

Results on the Under-21 Six Nations up till now:

Round 1

England vs Wales, 26-18
France vs Scotland, 37-0
Ireland vs Italy, 34-9

Round 2

England vs Italy, 48-3
France vs Ireland, 29-10
Wales vs Scotland, 34-24

Round 3

England vs Scotland, 49-22
Wales vs Ireland, 14-13
France vs Italy, 51-5

Round 4

England vs France, 30-17
Scotland vs Ireland, 24-21
Wales vs Italy, 36-3

England vs France Stade Municipal, Périgueux, on Saturday, 11 March 2006

The first half won it for England as they went into the break leading 23-7 from two converted tries and three [penalties. The second half belonged largely to France but by then England were just too far ahead, winning 30-17

Coach Jim Mallinder said: “I'm delighted that we put in such a good performance against a very good French side.  We scored some great tries and defended magnificently, particularly in the last 20 minutes when they threw everything at us."

Scorers:

For England:
Tries: Flood, Brown, Hills
Cons: Flood 2, Lamb
Pens: Flood 2, Brown

For France:
Tries: Fior, Denos
Con: Beauxis, Cibray
Pen: Beauxis

Teams:

France Under-21: 15 Florian Denos,14 Jacques Boussuges,13 Arnaud Mignardi,12 Grégory Puyo,11 Yann Fior, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Fabien Cibray, 8 Fabien Alexandre, 7 Damien Chouly, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 5 Loic Jacquet, 4 Denys Drozdz, 3 Benoît Bourrust, 2 Arnaud Héguy, 1 Damien Weber.
Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado,17 Florian Cazalot,18 Guillaume Bernad,19 Nicolas Bontinck, 20 Christophe Clarac, 21 François Trinh Duc, 22 Thierry Brana

England Under-21: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Thom Evans, 13 Matt Cornwell (captain), 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Nick Abendanon, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Foden, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Michael Hills, 6 James Haskell, 5 Tom Croft, 4 Richard Blaze, 3 David Wilson, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Alex Rogers
Replacements: 16 Neil Briggs, 17 Mark Lambert, 18 Sean Cox, 19 Alex Rae, 20 Nick Runciman, 21 Ryan Lamb, 22 Topsy Ojo

Referee: Phil Fear (Wales)

Wales vs Italy at Rodney Parade, on Friday, 10 March 2006

Wales, the reigning Under-21 champions were never in danger of losing the match, not even against such brave opposition and ran out 36-3 winners.

Wales led 21-0 at half-time, all points the result of tries as their forwards got on top.

Scrumhalf Martin Roberts added a dropped goal early in the second half before Italy got on the scoreboard with a penalty goal.

Scorers:

For Wales:
Tries: Shellard 2, Czekaj, Jones, M Roberts
Drop: M Roberts
Cons: Flanagan 4

For Italy:
Pen: Busi

Teams:

Wales Under-21: 15 Aled Thomas, 14 Aled Brew, 13 Andrew Bishop, 12 Tom Riley, 11 Chris Czekaj, 10 David Flannigan, 9 Martin Roberts, 8 Tom Smith (captain), 7 Rhys Shellard, 6 Adam Powell, 5 Will Jones, 4 Dominic Day, 3 Phil Osborne, 2 Duane Goodfield, 1 Rhys Gill
Replacements: 16 Ed Shervington, 17 Craig Mitchell, 18 Chris Dicomedis, 19 Ben Lewis, 20 Tom Cheeseman, 21 Liam Davies, 22 Jamie Roberts

Italy Under-21: 15 Michele Sepe, 14 Matteo Pratichetti, 13 Enrico Ceccato I, 12 Marco Neethling, 11 Diego Varani, 10 Paolo Buso, 9 Stefano Canale, 8 Marco Filippi, 7 Nicola Cattina (captain), 6 Paul Derbyshire, 5 Andrea Barbieri, 4 Mantvydas Tveraga, 3 Matteo Mignat 2 Lorenzo Giovanchelli, 1 Alberto De Marchi
Replacements: 16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Valerio Vicerè, 18 Andrea Michelini, 19 Franco Rendace, 20 Fabio Semenzato, 21 Enrico Patrizio, 22 Riccardo Robuschi

Referee: George Clancey (Ireland)
Touch judges: Colin Stanley, Sean Flattery (both Ireland)

Ireland vs Scotland at Dubarry Park, Athlone, on Friday, 10 March 2006

Scotland Under-21 inflicted their third successive defeat on Ireland when they beat them 24-21. David Blair, younger brother of Scottish scrumhalf Mike Blair, scored and converted the try which won the match.

After Ireland had led 9-0 at one stage in the first half Scotland came back to lead 11-9 at the break.

The second half was a seesaw affair. Ireland led 16-14, then Scotland led 17-16 and then Fionn Carr's try put Ireland ahead 21-17 till, with Jonathan Sexton in the sin bin, Blair struck with eight minutes to play.

Scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries: McFadden, Carr
Con: Sexton;
Pens: Sexton 3

For Scotland:
Tries: David Young, David Blair
Con: Blair
Pens: Blair 4

Teams:

Ireland Under-21: 15 Fionn Carr, 14 Peter Durcan, 13 Fergus McFadden, 12 Darren Cave, 11 Matthew Williams, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Paul Marshall, 8 Sean O'Brien, 7 Ejike Uzoigwe, 6 Ross Noonan, 5 Daniel Touhy, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Paul Doran-Jones, 2 Stuart Philpott (captain), 1 Callum Black
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Darragh Hurley, 18 David McGowan, 19 Billy Holland, 20 Duncan Williams, 21 Conan Doyle, 22 Tom Gleeson

Scotland Under-21: 15 Ben Addison, 14 Cameron Johnston, 13 Ben Cairns, 12 Iain Kennedy, 11 Lee Kibble, 10 Dave Blair (captain), 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 John Beattie, 7 Alan MacDonald, 6 John Barclay, 5 Ian Nimmo, 4 James Eddie, 3 David Young, 2 Sean Crombie, 1 Ryan Grant
Replacements: 16 Andrew Reekie, 17 Kyle Traynor, 18 Scott Newlands, 19 Calum Forrester, 20 Stephen Biggart, 21 James King, 22 Chris Dunlop

Referee: Andrew Small (England)
Touch judges: Bruce Robertson, Lloyd Jackson (both England)