Wales U19 pull off Grand Slam

England win at the Stoop

Wales beat all five of their Six Nations opponents at Under-19 level, thus ending with a Grand Slam.

Not all possible matches were played by other sides, bug the Welsh certainly played theirs.

Wales vs France at Aberavon RFC, Port Talbot on Thursday, 16 March 2006

In the Six Nations this year there has not been a full series of matches, except for Wales. Wales have beaten England, Ireland, Scotland and Italy. The Under-19 Triple Crown is theirs and so is the Grand Slam. They easily beat France 32-12.

The Grand Slam was in the bag by half-time, after the home side had run in three first half tries. Flank  Daniel Franks led the charge with a rampaging try after 13 minutes and the Lewis twins, scrumhalf Rob and powerful wing James, followed suit just before half-time.

The French had no answer to the pace, power and panache of the home side and could muster only two penalties in each half from fullback Mathieu Belie in response. Flyhalf Rhys Jones, whose father Kingsley captained Wales, converted all three first-half tries and also kicked two penalties.

Wales led 13-0 and then 27-3 in the first half to put the game beyond the reach of the French, but  the visitors actually won the second half 6-5 thanks to two more Belie penalties compared to a fourth home try by flank Josh Turnbull.

Scorers:

For Wales
Tries: Franks, Robert Lewis, James Lewis, Turnball
Cons: Rhys Jones 3
Pens: Rhys Jones 2

For France
Pens: Belie 4

Teams:

Wales Under-19: 15 Martyn Thomas, 14 Alec Jenkins, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Ashley Smith, 11 James Lewis, 10 Rhys Jones, 9 Robert Lewis, 8 Lewis Evans, 7 Daniel Franks, 6 Josh Turnbull, 5 Lou Reed, 4 Bradley Davies (captain), 3 Jamie Corsi, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Hugh Gustafson
Replacements: 16 Keiron Jenkins, 17 Nicholas Eaves, 18 Matthew Larsen, 19 Marc Breeze, 20 Gareth Maule, 21 Rhys Priestland, 22 Darren Allinson

France Under-19: 15 Mathieu Belie, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Simon Ternisien, 11 Mathieu Nicolas, 10 Morgan Parra, 9 Adrien Tomas,  8 Jean Monribot (captain), 7 Julien Tastet, 6 Alexandre Valdant, 5 Thomas Vervoort, 4 Benjamin Dechartres, 3 Pierre Martelière, 2 Julien Andoque, 1 Benjamin Sore
Replacements: Benjamin Thuriez,  Mickaël Drouard, Robert Carabignac, Lagrange, Stéphane Clément, Cyriac Ponnau, Christophe Litzler

Referee: Dean Richards (England)
Touch judges:  Hugh Watkins, Mike Bethell (both Wales)

England Under-19 vs Ireland Under-19 at the Twickenham Stoop on Friday, 17 March 2006

England easily won this direct warm-up for the IRB Under-19 Championship which starts later this month in Dubai when they won 32-9. The two teams will meet again in Dubai.

Flyhalf Danny Cipriani scored two tries in his side's victory which was set on the way to success when scrumhalf Richard Bolt broke down the blindside on the right scored a try after just four minutes of play. But Ireland struck back and were leading 9-5 at half-time.

Then along came Cipriani. He scored two second-half tries, three conversions and two penalties to add to the tries by Bolt and Alex Shaw.

Brian Collins kicked two penalties for Ireland before going off injured. Ian Keatley took over and added a third.

Scorers:

For England:
Tries: Bolt, Cipriani 2, Shaw
Cons: Cipriani 3
Pens: Cipriani 2

For Ireland:
Pens: Collins, Keatley

Teams:

England Under-19: 15 Chris Pennell, 14Oliver Dodge , 13 Tom Youngs, 12 Adam Powell, 11 Jordan Turner-Hall, 10 Daniel Cipriani, 9 Richard Bolt, 8 David Tait, 7 Andrew Saull, 6 Alex Shaw, 5 Ben Thomas, 4 David Attwood, 3 Jack Forster , 2 Ross McMillan (Nottingham), 1 Daniel Cole.
Replacements: 16 Jordan Page, 17 Charlie Beech, 18 Tom Mercey, 19 Sam McDonald, 20 Iain Grieve, 21 Rob Springall, 22 George Hughes (Bath), 23 Selorm Kuadey

Ireland Under-19: 15 Sean Carey, 14 Shane Monahan, 13 Ivan Dineen, 12 Ian Keatley, 11 Michael Barker, 10 Brian Collins, 9 Paul O’Donohoe, 8 Kevin Sheahan, 7 David Pollock (captain), 6 Tommy O’Donnell, 5 Conor McInerney, 4 Thomas Anderson, 3 James Gethings (Gonzaga), 2 David Gilchrist, 1 Cian Healy
Replacements: 16 Steven Verso, 17 David Millard, 18 Richard Sweeney, 19 Andrew Browne, 20 David Drake, 21 Niall O’Connor, 22 Ian Whitten, 23 Jonathon Graham

Referee: Andy Macpherson  (Scotland)
Touch judges: Kevin Stewart, David Kurk
Assessor: Roger Quittenton