England U20 Men victorious in Oxford
Mark Mapletoft's men ran in eight tries to secure the 44-5 victory at Iffley Road.
In the side’s final warm-up game ahead of their opening game of the 2024 U20 Six Nations Championship against Italy (2 February), tries from Ben Redshaw, Ollie Spencer, Max Blinkhorn and Jacob Oliver, and braces from Ben Waghorn and Toby Cousins were met by a single Oxford score from captain Jack Glover.
-Tickets: England U20 Men v Wales
-Tickets: England U20 Men v Ireland
Fans didn’t have to wait long for an opening try; Henry Pollock found space to break through the Oxford defence after just one minute of play, and an offload to Waghorn on his left gave the outside centre space to coast his way to the try line.
Waghorn crossed for his second of the afternoon on the half hour mark. Scrum half Ben Douglas sniped from the base of a ruck, and with Oxford on the back foot England spread the ball wide and into space for the Harlequins man to dot down.
Three minutes later, Cousins was gifted an interception opportunity inside the opposition 22. With no second invitation required, the wing plucked the ball from the air and walked in under the sticks.
Oxford claimed their only try of the encounter at the hands of captain Glover, but not before England’s Redshaw got in on the scoring action. The Newcastle Falcon darted down the left wing after a break from Pollock on the half way line.
Oxford opened their second half account in better form, retaining possession inside England’s 22 and pressing in the close encounters. They found no way through to the whitewash, however, and it was England’s Spencer who scored the first try of the second forty.
It was Pollock who again provided the offload, this time from the base of a line out, to set up the replacement wing in the 47th minute.
With just over an hour gone, a Cousins break afforded Blinkhorn the opportunity for England’s sixth. The replacement scrum half gathered his teammate's chip from just outside the Oxford 22 to run in unopposed.
Replacement hooker Oliver was then shown a yellow card on the 70-minute mark for an illegal challenge in the ruck as Oxford continued to pressure England’s defence. But a turnover of possession left space on the right flank for Cousins to run.
The wing crossed for his second, before a returning Oliver closed England’s account with the final try of the afternoon from the base of a driving maul.
England U20 Men
15. Ioan Jones, 14. Toby Cousins, 13. Ben Waghorn, 12. Sean Kerr, 11. Ben Redshaw, 10. Rory Taylor, 9. Ben Douglas, 1. Cameron Miell, 2. Craig Wright, 3. Billy Sela, 4. Olamide Sodeke, 5. Junior Kpoku, 6. Finn Carnduff (C), 7. Henry Pollock, 8. Zach Carr
Replacements
16. Jacob Oliver, 17. Scott Kirk, 18. James Halliwell, 19. Joe Bailey, 20. Jack Bennett, 21. Max Blinkhorn, 22. Kane James, 23. Josh Bellamy, 24. Malelili Satala, 25. Ollie Spencer
Oxford University Men’s Blues
15. Sam Reynolds, 14. Hector Skipworth, 13. Wolfe Morn, 12. Luke Wyllie, 11. Tom Mewes, 10. Archie King, 9. Jack Hamilton, 1. Harry Pratt, 2. Harry Scoble, 3. Michael Fankah, 4, Seth Dockery, 5. Matt Cook, 6. Edward Blake, 7. Zenden Rozenbroek, 8. Jack Glover (C)
Replacements
16. Noah Zenios, 17. Jack Botham, 18. Joel Anjorin, 19. George Fowler, 20. George Morgan, 21. Vasco Faria, 22. Harry Bridgewater, 23. Paddy Mayhew, 24. Ben Scher, 25. Finlay Ryan-Phillips.
