England U20 Men maintain perfect start

24 Feb 2023 | 5 min |

England U20 Men maintain perfect start

England continued their unbeaten start to the 2023 U20 Six Nations with a 37-21 victory over Wales in Colwyn Bay.

Tries from Josh Hathaway, Joseph Woodward, Rekeiti Ma’asi-White and Tobias Elliott secured the bonus-point inside the opening half-hour, Wales responding through Oli Andrew and a penalty try.

Andrew added a second after the break but Ben Waghorn’s double off the bench sealed a third win in as many matches and ensured England will go into the round four clash with France at The Rec on 10 March with Grand Slam dreams still alive.

The visitors started strongly at Stadiwm CSM and opened the scoring on 15 minutes.

Hathaway was on hand to finish a flowing move by dotting down just inside the left touchline following a fine break by Sam Harris, who nailed the touchline conversion to open up a 7-0 lead.

It took just six minutes for England to cross again, Woodward spinning out of an attempted tackle and powering over for his first try of the competition.

Wales cut the deficit through Andrew, who crossed in the right-hand corner, but England hit back instantly.

Just 16 seconds after the restart, which was knocked on by the hosts, Ma’asi-White and Hathaway expertly exchanged passes to send the centre over.

The bonus point was sealed shortly afterwards, Hathaway again the architect as he released fellow wing Elliott to sprint over and put England 22-7 in front.

Hathaway was then involved at the other end as Wales were awarded a penalty try with the final action of the first half, the wing penalised for a deliberate knock on and given a yellow card.

That left England 22-14 in front at the end of a first half which saw them make 308 metres from 46 carries, with four clean breaks and 14 defenders beaten.

Despite being a man light early in the second period, England came close to stretching their lead when Harris made a break from inside his own 22 and looked set to score but for a try-saving tackle by Bryn Bradley which forced a spill in the tackle.

Harris soon slotted over a penalty following good work by Ma’asi-White before Hathaway was quickly back in the thick of the action by reaching a grubber kick just before his opposite number Andrew to deny Wales a score.

Andrew did cross for his second try of the evening just before the hour mark following good work by scrum-half Archie Hughes, Daniel Edwards’ conversion reducing England’s lead to four points.

Just as in the first half, however, the visitors produced an instant response, this time through Waghorn as he crossed in the left-hand corner for his first England Under-20s try.

That tally was soon doubled as Waghorn burrowed over with eight minutes to play to settle the outcome on another impressive night for Alan Dickens’ side.

TEAMS

England

Starting XV: 15. Sam Harris (Bath Rugby), 14. Tobias Elliott (Saracens), 13. Rekeiti Ma'asi-White (Sale Sharks), 12. Joseph Woodward (Leicester Tigers), 11. Josh Hathaway (Gloucester), 10. Monty Bradbury (London Irish), 9. Charlie Bracken (Saracens), 1. Archie McArthur (Gloucester), 2. Finn Theobald-Thomas (Gloucester), 3. Tim Hoyt (Leicester Tigers), 4. Danny Eite (Gloucester), 5. Lewis Chessum (C) (Leicester Tigers), 6. Finn Carnduff (Leicester Tigers), 7. Tristan Woodman (Sale Sharks), 8. Greg Fisilau (Exeter Chiefs).

Replacements

16. Calum Scott (London Irish), 17. Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks), 18. Afolabi Fasogbon (London Irish), 19. Robert Carmichael (Leicester Tigers), 20. Joshua Manz (Leicester Tigers), 21. Nye Thomas (Sale Sharks), 22. Louie Johnson (Newcastle Falcons), 23. Benjamin Waghorn (Harlequins).

Wales

Starting XV: 15. Cameron Winnett (Cardiff Rugby), 14. Harri Houston (Ospreys), 13. Louie Hennessey (Bath Rugby), 12. Harri Ackerman (Dragons), 11. Oli Andrew (Dragons), 10. Dan Edwards (Ospreys), 9. Archie Hughes (Scarlets), 1. Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths (Dragons), 2. Sam Scarfe (Dragons), 3. Ellis Fackrell (Ospreys), 4. Liam Edwards (Ospreys), 5. Jonny Green (Harlequins), 6. Ryan Woodman (Dragons), 7. Luca Giannini (Scarlets), 8. Mackenzie Martin (Cardiff Rugby).

Replacements

16. Lewis Morgan (Scarlets), 17. Josh Morse (Scarlets), 18. Tomas Pritchard (Scarlets), 19. Owain Evans (RGC), 20. Lucas De La Rua (Cardiff Rugby), 21. Harri Williams (Scarlets), 22. Iwan Jenkins (Exeter Chiefs), 23. Bryn Bradley (Harlequins).