England U20 Men defeated by Bath United
Mark Mapletoft's men scored five tries but fell to a 33-42 defeat against Bath United at Shaftesbury Park.
Tries from Toby Cousins, Lucas Schmid, Zach Carr and a brace from Ioan Jones were met with Bath scores through Austin Emens, Ewan Richards, Louie Hennessey, George Worboys, Ieuan Davies and a penalty try.
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Bath, playing in their yellow alternate kit, opened the scoring after ten minutes with a breakaway score from Emens. A number of phases caused England’s defence to narrow, giving the fullback room to dive into the right corner.
England responded shortly after with their first score of the afternoon. The ball passed through the backs in a move straight from the training ground, and Cousins was on hand to secure the five points which was soon converted by Taylor to level the scores.
A second Bath try through captain Richards in the 26th minute was followed up with a third through centre Hennessey. Playing under advantage, Worboys ran in for a fourth in the final minutes of the half. The fly half’s full compliment of conversions had England trailing by 21 points at the break.
The second half began in similar fashion to the first. After a scoreless ten minutes, Bath broke the deadlock when scrum half Davies spotted a gap at the breakdown, darting through and grounding the ball under the posts.
England wasted no time getting the ball down the other end of the field, however, and it was Schmid who burrowed his way through a tight defensive line to score the try, which Sean Kerr converted.
Moments later, an opportunistic pickup from Alex Wills on the left touchline set the platform for a third score. With Bath retreating, a cross field kick from Kerr found Davies, who crossed for the first of his two tries.
Bath sixth try came as a penalty score, but a yellow card for replacement hooker Ioan Emanuel left the men in yellow a player down and defending their own line.
The resulting lineout, caught by Finn Carnduff, set up a maul which trundled towards the line. Carr emerged with the ball, and Kerr slotted the wide conversion.
England made the most of their numerical advantage in the final play of the game. With space out wide, Jones again used his pace to beat his opposite number, scoring his second and England’s fifth score of the afternoon.
Mapletoft’s men face Oxford University next week (13 January) in their second warmup game ahead of their opening game of the 2024 U20 Six Nations Championship against Italy (2 February).
A ticket bundle for England U20 Men’s home U20 Six Nations fixtures at the Rec against Wales and Ireland can be purchased here.
ENGLAND U20 MEN
15. Ben Redshaw (Newcastle Falcons), 14. Alex Wills (Sale Sharks)*, 13. Toby Cousins (Northampton Saints)*, 12. Ben Waghorn (Harlequins)*, 11. Sean Kerr (Harlequins), 10. Rory Taylor (Gloucester Rugby), 9. Ben Douglas (Newcastle Falcons), 1. Cameron Miell (Leicester Tigers), 2. Craig Wright (Northampton Saints)*, 3. Billy Sela (Bath Rugby), 4. Olamide Sodeke (Saracens), 5. Joe Bailey (Exeter Chiefs)*, 6. Nathan Michelow (C) (Saracens)*, 7. Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints), 8. Lucas Schmid (Harlequins)
Replacements
16. Scott Kirk (Bath Rugby), 17. Jacob Oliver (Newcastle Falcons), 18. James Halliwell (Bristol Bears)*, 19. Junior Kpoku (Racing 92), 20. Finn Carnduff (Leicester Tigers)*, 21. Zach Carr (Harlequins)*, 22. Max Blinkhorn (Nottingham University), 23. Josh Bellamy (Harlequins), 24. Ollie Spencer (Newcastle Falcons), 25. Will Glister (Northampton Saints), 26. Ioan Jones (Gloucester Rugby)
*denotes a player previously capped at U20 level
BATH UNITED
15. Austin Emens, 14, Ruaridh McConnochie, 13. Louie Hennessy, 12. Max Wright, 11. Brendan Owen, 10. George Worboys, 9. Ieuan Davies, 1. Arthur Cordwell, 2. John Stewart, 3. Kieran Verden, 4. Will Jeanes, 5. Ewan Richards (C), 6. Josh Bayliss, 7. Thompson Cowan, 8. Arthur Green.
Replacements
16. Ioan Emanuel, 17. Jasper Spandler, 18. Mikey Summerfield, 19. Eddie Erskine, 20. Mackenzie Graham, 21. Jack Bennett, 22. George Timmins, 23. Nahum Merigan, 24. Murdoch Lock, 25. Raff Weston, 26. Luke Graham, 27. James Short, 28. Rory Crum, 29. Dan Marias, 30. Josh Dingley.
