U20 Six Nations Wrap: Round Two

Editor

France claimed a big win, while England and Ireland also secured victories in the second round of the U20 Six Nations.

Italy U20s 26-27 Ireland U20s
Stadio Enrico Chersoni

Ireland secured a hard-fought one-point victory over Italy, beating them 27-26 at Stadio Enrico Chersoni.

The visitors started off the scoring when fly-half Johnny McPhillips scored a penalty in the 10th minute.

Antonio Rizzi then kicked a three pointer of his own before McPhillips regained his side the lead, going into half-time 6-3 up.

Ireland scored the first try of the match when winger Jordan Larmour picked up a loose ball and used his quick feet to get around the Italian cover defence to score, with McPhillips adding to his side's points tally.

Italy replied with haste as nine minutes later, they were given a penalty and kicked for the corner, which allowed burly hooker Massimo Ceciliani to get close enough to the line to score the five pointer.

Ireland reacted well with their lead under threat and after a well-worked backline move Larmour was given the ball in space and the winger scored his second try of the match.

The home side reacted well though as three minutes later Italy centre Marco Zanon crossed and closed the gap.

Ireland then extended their lead again when Tommy O’Brien charged down an Italian kick for touch and dotted down to put the game seemingly beyond Italy at 28-19.

Italy would have the final say though when replacement hooker Alberto Rollero crossed, Massimo Cioffi scored the conversion, making it a one point game just before the final whistle.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Tries:
Zanon, Ceciliani, Rollero
Con: Cioffi
Pens: Rizzi 3
Yellow Card: Licata

For Ireland:
Tries:
Larmour 2, O'Brien
Cons: Fitzgerald, McPhillips 2
Pens: McPhillips 2
Yellow Card: Wycherley

The teams:

Italy: 15 Massimo Cioffi, 14 Andrea Bronzini, 13 Ludovico Vaccari, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Dario Schiabel, 10 Antonio Rizzi, 9 Charly Trussardi, 8 Giovanni Licata, 7 Lorenzo Masselli, 6 Jacopo Bianchi, 5 Gabriele Venditti, 4 Giordano Baldino, 3 Marco Riccioni (c), 2 Massimo Ceciliani, 1 Daniele Rimpelli
Replacements: 16 Alberto Rollero, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Giosuè Zilocchi, 19 Edoardo Iachizzi, 20 Nardo Casolari, 21 Emilio Fusco, 22 Michelangelo Biondelli, 23 Roberto dal Zilio

Ireland: 15 Colm Hogan, 14 Jordan Larmour, 13 Gavin Mullin, 12 Ciaran Frawley, 11 Calvin Nash, 10 Johnny McPhillips, 9 Johnny Stewart, 8 Caelan Doris, 7 Paul Boyle Lansdowne, 6 Cillian Gallagher (c), 5 Oisin Dowling Lansdowne, 4 Fineen Wycherley, 3 Charlie Connolly, 2 Tadgh McElroy Lansdowne, 1 Joey Conway
Replacements: 16 Adam Moloney, 17 Rory Mulvihill, 18 Matthew Burke, 19 Jack Regan, 20 Gavin Coombes, 21 Jack Lyons, 22 Conor Fitzgerald, 23 Tommy O’Brien


Wales 21-37 England
Parc Eirias

England claimed a bonus point win after scoring fou tries against Wales to win 37-21 at Parc Eirias.

Wales fly-half Ben Jones was on fire for the first 20 minutes of the game, scoring all of his side's points in the first half. It started off with a penalty in the second minute before a converted try in the 10th minute and then another penalty in the 17th minute.

England, meanwhile, seemed fairly shellshocked as they were only able to score three points in the first 30 minutes with pivot, Jacob Umaga, kicking a penalty in the 19th minute.

The visitors then refound their feet when Harry Randall took a quick penalty and was able to evade the Welsh defence to score, to get his side back in the game.

Their next try came just three minutes later, after England outside centre Max Wright finished off after a well-worked move from the England side. England started to show a real turn of the tide when they scored their third try of the game a minute before half time when Will Butler added five points to his side's tally.

Wales closed the gap in the 65th minute when replacement Chris Coleman used his power to barge over the line. His try was cancelled out though when England number eight Zach Mercer scored his side's bonus-point try.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Tries:
Jones, Coleman
Con: Jones
Pens: Jones 3

For England:
Tries:
Randall, Wright, Butler, Mercer
Cons: Umaga 3, Grayson
Pens: Umaga 2, Grayson

The teams:

Wales: 15 Will Talbot-Davies, 14 Jared Rosser, 13 Ioan Nicholas, 12 Keiran Williams, 11 Ryan Conbeer, 10 Ben Jones, 9 Dane Blacker, 8 Morgan Morris, 7 Will Jones (c), 6 Morgan Sieniawski, 5 Sean Moore, 4 Callum Bradbury, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Ellis Shipp, 1 Rhys Carre
Replacements: 16 Corrie Tarrant, 17 Steff Thomas, 18 Chris Coleman, 19 Alex Dombrandt, 20 Aled Ward, 21 Declan Smith, 22 Phil Jones, 23 Cameron Lewis

England: 15 Tom Parton, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Max Wright, 12 Will Butler, 11 Gabriel Ibitoye, 10 Jacob Umaga, 9 Harry Randall, 8 Zach Mercer, 7 Ben Earl (c), 6 Tom Curry, 5 Justin Clegg, 4 Nick Isiekwe, 3 Joseph Morris, 2 Joe Mullis, 1 Ollie Dawe
Replacements: 16 Curtis Langdon, 17 Alex Seville, 18 Ciaran Knight, 19 Josh Caulfield, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 James Grayson, 23 Dominic Morris


France 36-8 Scotland
Stade des Alpes, Grenoble

France put Scotland to the sword when they scored five tries to win 36-8 in Grenoble.

The game was quiet for the first 30 minutes with only three points on the scorebord from Connor Eastgate. France finally came alive in the 28th minute though after second-rower Mickael Capelli barged over the line to get his side on the score-sheet.

After half-time France scored their second try of the match, this time through scrum-half Baptiste Couilloud.

Scotland then replied two minutes later when they created a driving maul close to the French line which led to hooker Fraser Renwick scoring his side's only try in the game.

France then secured their win with three consecutive tries, one through winger Faraj Fartass and two through replacement Arthur Retière.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries:
Fartass, Couilloud, Capelli, Retiere 2
Cons: N'Tamack, Darmon 3
Pen: N'Tamack

For Scotland:
Try:
Renwick
Pen: Eastgate

The teams:

France: 15 Romain Buros, 14 Faraj Fartass, 13 Nathan Decron, 12 Théo Dachary, 11 William Iraguha, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Baptiste Couilloud, 8 Killian Bendjaballah 7 Charlie Francoz, 6 Baptiste Pesenti, 5 Mickael Capelli, 4 Florian Verhaeghe, 3 Thomas Laclayat, 2 Etienne Fourcade, 1 Léo Aouf,
Replacements: 16 Kevin Tougne, 17 Flroian Dufour, 18 Georges-Henri Colombe, 19 Alexandre Roumat, 20 Selevasio Tolofua, 21 Arthur Retière, 22 Thomas Darmon, 23 Théo Millet

Scotland: 15 Stafford McDowall, 14 Robbie Nairn, 13 Craig Pringle, 12 Cameron Hutchison, 11 Darcy Graham, 10 Josh Henderson, 9 Andrew Simmers, 8 Tom Dodd, 7 Luke Crosbie, 6 Bruce Flockhart, 5 Callum Hunter-Hill (c), 4 Alex Craig, 3 Adam Nicol, 2 Fraser Renwick, 1 George Thornton
Replacements: 16 Robbie Smith, 17 Daniel Winning, 18 Fergus Bradbury, 19 Hamish Bain, 20 Jamie Ure, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Connor Eastgate, 23 Ross McCann