Match Report: England U20 56-19 Scotland U20

Scotland opened the scoring in a compelling opening quarter that witnessed four tries – two apiece – when scrum-half Noah Cowan was on hand to coolly finish in the corner after Fergus Watson showed composure in the tackle to pop it up to the scrum-half (0-5, 7 mins).

England hit back immediately and were awarded a penalty try when Watson was adjudged to have shoulder-barged fellow winger Tyler Offiah, in doing so stopping a certain try (7-5, 10 mins). Watson was sin-binned for his efforts.

Anything Scotland could do in the discipline stakes, England could match, as they gave away their own penalty try when hooker Louie Gulley illegally brought down a try-bound maul (7-12, 12 mins).

The lead again didn’t last long as Jack Bracken showed excellent support lines to go over, Ben Coen converting in what ended up a flawless kicking performance from the English stand-off (14-12, 14 mins).

In the sapping heat, Scotland were tiring more so than their opponents and England extended their lead through the impressive No 8 Kane James, who dotted down from close range (21-12, 21 mins), as the teams broke for water in scorching conditions.

James then scored a cracker, displaying immense pace to run on to Jonny Weimann’s flat pass to finish from distance (28-12, 28 mins), before centre Will Knight added another on debut soon after (35-12, 33 mins).

And Bracken grabbed his second before the interval to draw to a close a half whereby Scotland excelled in the early stages but gave way to a polished England side (42-12, 39 mins).

Half-time: England U20 42-12 Scotland U20

If things pointed to England further asserting their scoreboard dominance after the break, a spirited Scotland had other ideas, if anything forcing their opponents into consistent, admittedly excellent, defence as the heat made for an increasingly scrappy affair.

England blindside flanker George Timmins was shown a permanent red card for a clumsy – at best – elbow to the head of a prostrate Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, the level of danger correctly deemed fit enough for such sanction.

Down to 14 players for the remainder, and with an extra water break thrown in on account of the elements, the amount of handling errors rose in correlation for two sides who were willing but increasingly looking fatigued.

Scotland’s defence was terrific, ensuring that any second-half points deluge was kept from developing, time and again forcing errors from England whenever a try looked imminent. That England conceded a scrum penalty when well set, and with a new front row on the pitch, epitomised the stellar Scottish defensive efforts with the game almost 70 minutes old.

After some 33 second-half minutes, full-back Josh Bellamy did get his side’s seventh try with a clever, converted solo score (49-12, 73 mins).

Ben Redshaw raced home from the restart (56-12, 74 mins), but in keeping with their tenacity shown throughout, Scotland grabbed a late third when Hector Patterson collected his own chip for a tidy try, converted by Matthew Urwin (56-19, 77 mins).

Full-time England U20 56-19 Scotland U20

England U20: Josh Bellamy, Jack Bracken, Nick Lilley, Will Knight, Tyler Offiah; Ben Coen, Jonny Weimann; Ralph McEachran, Louie Gulley, Tye Raymont, Tom Burrow ©, Junior Kpoku, George Timmins, Samuel Williams, Kane James.

Replacements: Kepu Tuipulotu, Oli Scola, Vilikesa Sela, Olamide Sodeke, Aiden Ainsworth Cave, Archie McPartland, Campbell Ridl, Ben Redshaw.

Scotland U20: Jack Brown, Nairn Moncrieff (both Edinburgh Rugby) Johnny Ventisei ©, Kerr Yule, Fergus Watson; Matthew Urwin (all Glasgow Warriors), Noah Cowan (Brunel University/Ealing Trailfinders); Jake Shearer, Joe Roberts (both Glasgow Warriors), Ollie Blyth-Lafferty (Edinburgh Rugby), Bart Godsell (Loughborough University), Dan Halkon (Glasgow Warriors), Charlie Moss (Montpellier), Oliver Duncan (Edinburgh Rugby), Reuben Logan (Northampton Saints).

Replacements: Seb Stephen (for Roberts, 47 mins), Oliver McKenna (for Shearer, 44 mins)(both Glasgow Warriors), Jamie Stewart (Edinburgh Rugby) (for Blyth-Lafferty, 53 mins, reversed 62 mins), Dylan Cockburn (Melrose RFC) (for Halkon, 53 mins), Mark Fyffe (University of Edinburgh) (for Moss, 62 mins), Oliver Finlayson-Russell (University of St Andrews) (for Duncan, 30 mins), Hector Patterson (for Cowan, 62 mins), Jack Hocking (for Brown, 41 mins) (both Edinburgh Rugby).

Referee: Marcus Playle (NZR)
Assistant Referee 1: Tomas Bertazza (UAR)
Assistant Referee 2: Alex Frasson (FIR)
TMO: Leo Colgan (IRFU)
FPRO: Quinton Immelman (SARU)