What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.

England U18s open Five Nations Festival campaign with nine try win
Sunday April 12, 2009


England U18s 61 Italy U18s 3

England kick-started their Under 18s Five Nations Festival campaign in fine style on Easter Sunday, running in nine tries as they galloped to a 61-3 victory against the host nation in Parma, Italy.

London Wasps' Christian Wade collected a hat-trick of tries in an impressive second half for the England young guns, while his club and country teammate Jack Wallace, who also bagged a brace of tries, was named man of the match.

England had to do without their captain Alex Gray for the tournament opener through illness, but Saracens' Owen Farrell led the side well while fly half George Ford kept the score board ticking over for England with eight conversions.

England U18s Coach John Fletcher said: "This was a positive start to the tournament. We performed much better in the second half compared to the first half where we were a little slow off the mark and missed our opportunities. The changes we made after the restart paid dividends though and we pulled through to get a comfortable win.

"Italy certainly had their opportunities today, so I am pleased with our defensive effort which kept them to just three points.

"We now play Scotland on Wednesday so there's little time in between games, but the lads are in good condition and now it's a matter of getting them re-energised before our next match."

Man of the Match Wallace opened England's account early on with an 11th minute try after a good line-out saw Ford get the ball out to Wallace, who then ran in under the posts. Minutes later he then added his second after a good scrum with Ford, Farrell and Jonathan Joseph also involved.

Italy hit back with a successful penalty on 18 minutes, but Leicester's Matthew Everard eased England into a 19-3 lead at the break after some more good work by the forwards in a line-out.

After the restart England came out firing and picked up their game to run in six tries. Farrell kept England's momentum going when he made a good break to set up some multi-phase play between the backs and the forwards before London Irish wing Sam Edgerley finished off England's attack and ran in to score. Ford again converted.

Wasps No. 8 Sam Jones claimed try number five for the tourists before Wade, on virtually his first touch of the ball, added the first of his three tries. Ryan Glynn made the vital break and then found Wade on the right wing, who ran in easily to score.

Skipper Farrell went on to add his own try after a clever chip by Ford gave him space, and then Wade added his second and third touch down in extra time.

England U18s

15 Jack Wallace (London Wasps & RGS High Wycombe), 14 Marcus Watson (London Irish & St Georges College), 13 Jonathan Joseph (London Irish & Millfield School), 12 Owen Farrell C (Saracens & St Georges School), 11 Sam Edgerley (London Irish & Wellington College), 10 George Ford (Leicester Tigers & Rishworth School), 9 Ryan Glynn (Sale Sharks & Sedbergh School), 1 Mako Vunipola (Bristol Rugby & Millfield School), 2 Harry Allen (Saracens & Chistlehurst&Sidcup Grammar), 3 Henry Thomas (Bristol Rugby & Millfield School), 4 Sam Twomey (Harlequins & Dulwich College), 5 Charlie Matthews (Harlequins & Hurstpeirpoint College), 6 Joe Trayfoot (Harlequins & Epsom College), 7 Matt Everard (Leicester Tigers & Wyggeston&QueenElizabeth), 8 Sam Jones (London Wasps & Aylesbury Grammar).

Replacements: 16 Rob Buchanan (Harlequins & St Bedes School), 17 Ryan Bower (Leicester Tigers & John Cleveland College), 18 Alex Gray (Newcastle Falcons & Barnard Castle School). 19 Ben Glynn (Bristol Rugby & Filton College), 20 Billy Vunipola (Bristol Rugby & Castle School), 21 Peter Austin (London Irish & St Paul's Catholic College), 22 Sam Stuart (Harlequins & Sedbergh School), 23 Jake Sharp (Saracens & Oaklands College), 24 Jamie Elliott (Northampton Saints & Bedford School), 25 Andy Short (Worcester Warriors & Worcester 6th Form College), 26 Christian Wade (London Wasps & RGS High Wycombe).

Tries: Wallace (2), Everard, Edgerley, Jones, Wade (3), Farrell,
Conversions: Ford (8)
Penalties:
Substitutions: Vunipola Billy for Trayfoot (27), Glynn Ben for Twomey (46), Short for Edgerley (55), Wade for Joseph (55), Austin for Alllen (55), Bower for Thomas (55), Buchanan for Vunipola Mako (55).

Half-time score: England 19 Italy 3



England U18s Five Nations Festival Squad Playing Schedule

March 22nd, Kingston Park, 2pm England v Scotland, WON 63-0
March 29th, Sandy Park, 230pm, England v Japan High Schools, WON 71-7
April 12th, England v Italy, 630pm BST, Stadio L.Zaffanella, WON 61-3
April 15th, England v Scotland, 630pm BST, Stadio L.Zaffanella
April 18th, England v Ireland, 3pm BST, Stadio G. Maini
April 26th, England v Wales, 2pm, Ebbw Vale RFC

Is it the same as the U16's where every player has to

1) start a game
2) play a minimum of 40 minutes?

Looks like a fairly even first half but England ran away with it in the end.

Looks like Wasps have a couple of good back 3 players in Wade & Wallace.

Nice to see Ford have a good conversion % as well. He was around 50% in his games against Scotland for England&Leicester.

It's great to see another age group team appear to play with such adventure. Hopefully keep it up in their next few games.