U20 Six Nations Wrap: England win Grand Slam

Editor

England U20 completed a first Grand Slam in six years while France and Scotland also claimed wins.

England 14-10 Ireland

England were able to scrape past a strong Irish side 14-10 to claim the Grand Slam.

The Six Nations champions outscored Ireland by two tries to one, thanks to scores from Jack Nay and Henry Walker in the first half.

A second-half try from Ireland U20 replacement Gavin Coombes brought the game to life to set up a tense closing stage for England with the Grand Slam on the line.

And despite some nervous moments the side coached by Ian Vass clung on, sparking wild celebrations in the Irish capital.

Second-row Nay opened the scoring for the visitors after 18 minutes, with Ireland fly-half Bill Johnston responding from a penalty to make the score 7-3.

England debutant Walker then gave his side a healthy lead when he stepped around Johnston to score right before half-time, with Max Malins adding his second conversion.

Coombes then went over in the 64th minute after persistent pressure and despite Ireland hammering away at the English defence in the final minutes, Ireland were held up over the line, giving England a dramatic victory.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Try:
Coombes
Con: Johnston
Pen: Johnston

For England:
Tries:
Nay, Walker
Cons: Malins 2

Ireland: 15 Jordan Larmour, 14 Tommy O’Brien, 13 Gavin Mullin 12 Ciaran Frawley, 11 Calvin Nash (c), 10 Bill Johnston, 9 Jonny Stewart, 8 Caelan Doris, 7 Paul Boyle, 6 John Foley, 5 Oisin Dowling, 4 Fineen Wycherley, 3 Charlie Connolly, 2 Tadgh McElroy, 1 Joey Conway
Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Greg McGrath, 18 Matthew Burke, 19 Jack Regan, 20 Gavin Coombes, 21 Jack Stafford, 22 Conor Fitzgerald, 23 Colm Hogan

England: 15 Tom Parton, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Dominic Morris, 12 Will Butler, 11 Sam Aspland-Robinson, 10 Max Malins, 9 Harry Randall, 8 Zach Mercer (c), 7 Ben Curry, 6 Tom Curry, 5 Nick Isiekwe, 4 Jack Nay, 3 Ciaran Knight, 2 Henry Walker, 1 Ollie Dawe
Replacements: 16 Jamie Blamire, 17 Ralph Adams-Hale, 18 Joseph Morris, 19 Justin Clegg, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Theo Brophy Clews, 23 Max Wright

Referee: Pierre Brousset (France)
Assistant Referees: Tual Trainini (France), Stéphane Boyer (France)
TMO: Arnaud Blondel (France)


Scotland 38-17 Italy

Scotland scored five tries to Italy’s three with full-back Darcy Graham nabbing a brace to beat the away side 38-17 at Broadwood Stadium.

Italy’s discipline was terrible throughout the game which seriously hampered their chances after conceding two yellow cards as well as a red.

Scotland were magnificent regardless as they ran the Italian ragged from the first moments of the game.

The win means that Scotland were able to vanquish Italy to the bottom of the table, a position Scotland held up until this game, with Italy copping the wooden spoon.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Tries:
Graham 2, Simmers, Dodd, Fagerson
Cons: Henderson 5
Pens: Henderson
Yellow Card: Winning

For Italy:
Tries:
Riccioni, Penalty Try, D’Onofrio
Yellow Card: Bianchi
Red Cards: Masselli, Manni

Scotland: 15 Darcy Graham, 14 Robbie Nairn, 13 Stafford McDowall, 12 Ali Grieg, 11 Logan Trotter, 10 Josh Henderson, 9 Andrew Simmers, 8 Tom Dodd, 7 Matt Fagerson, 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 Luke Crosbie, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Craig Pringle, 23 Robert Kay

Italy: 15 Massimo Cioffi, 14 Andrea Bronzini, 13 Ludovico Vaccari, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Giovanni D’Onofrio, 10 Antonio Rizzi Vincenzo, 9 Charly Ernst Trussardi, 8 Giovanni Licata, 7 Michele Lamaro, 6 Jacopo Bianchi, 5 Niccolò Cannone, 4 Lorenzo Masselli, 3 Marco Riccioni (c), 2 Alberto Rollero, 1 Daniele Rimpelli
Replacements: 16 Danilo Fischetti, 17 Damiano Borean, 18 Giosuè Zilocchi, 19 Gabriele Vendetti, 20 Lodovico Manni, 21 Matteo Maria Panunzi, 22 Michelangelo Biondelli, 23 Roberto Dal Zilio

Referee: Frank Murphy (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Nigel Correll (Ireland), Dermot Blake (Ireland)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)


France 40-20 Wales

France scored five tries to overcome Wales 40-20 to claim second spot in the under 20 Six Nations.

Wales scored three tries themselves but the French found their feet in the second half to blitz the Welsh to take the win.

Wales were in control of the game for the first 35 minutes before Baptiste Couilloud crossed the line to score his side’s first points of the game. It was all France after that besides a last-minute try from Arwel Robson.

The win saw France jump from fourth place to second for a handsome finish while Wales finishes third after being knocked down the table by France.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries:
Cros, Millet, N’Tamack, Couilloud, Roumat
Cons: N’Tamack 5

For Wales:
Tries:
Jones, Ward, Robson
Cons: Jones, Robson
Pens: Jones 2

France: 15 Geoffrey Cros, 14 Faraj Fartass, 13 Théo Millet, 12 Laurent Uberti, 11 Gabriel N’Gandebe, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Baptiste Couilloud, 8 Alexandre Roumat, 7 Charlie Francoz, 6 Killian Geraci, 5 Mickaël Capelli, 4 Florian Verhaeghe, 3 Thomas Laclayat, 2 Etienne Fourcade, 1 Ugo Boniface
Replacements: 16 Simon-Pierre Chauvac, 17 Pierre Bourgarit, 18 Georges-Henri Colombe, 19 Alban Requet, 20 Dylan Crétin, 21 Didier Retière, 22 Adrien Séguret, 23 Romain Buros

Wales: 15 Rhun Williams, 14 Corey Baldwin, 13 Ioan Nicholas 12 Keiran Williams (c), 11 Ryan Conbeer, 10 Ben Jones, 9 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 8 Aled Ward, 7 James Botham, 6 Shane Lewis-Hughes, 5 Sean Moore, 4 Alex Dombrandt, 3 Steff Thomas, 2 Corrie Tarrant, 1 Rhys Carre
Replacements: 16 Ellis Shipp, 17 Tom Mably, 18 Keiron Assiratti, 19 Jack Pope, 20 Sid Blackmore, 21 Dane Blacker, 22 Arwel Robson, 23 Owen Lane

Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Assistant Referees: Sam Grove-White (Scotland), David Sutherland (Scotland)
TMO: Jim Yuille (Scotland)