Report: England U18 v Scotland U18

10 Apr 2025

Scotland U18 Men were beaten convincingly in their first 2025 U18 Six Nations Festival match, losing 71-5 to England in Vichy.

England were on the board after eight minutes with their first real chance. From a scrum on the right, the ball was played right across the back line to left winger Charlie Tamani, who powered over after recovering the last pass, which had gone loose. (5-0, 8 mins)

England had a second try two minutes later, running the length of the field up the right hand side for a quite exceptional score involving five offloads that was eventually finished off by Oscar Talbot. (12-0, 10 mins)

A third score came in the 13th minute, as Junior Denny plucked a loose pass out of the sky and jogged in untouched and under the posts. (19-0, 13 mins)

An incredible 50:22 gave England a lineout five metres out, and within two phases Jack Lewis bundled over from a metre out for their fourth try. (26-0, 16 mins)

Next it was Henry Laidlow to canter over for England, finishing off a move down the left touchline. (31-0, 20 mins)

Tomani went over for his second after Scotland’s best period to that point had proved fruitless, finishing off after a maul had been stopped just short. (40-0, 30 mins)

George Marsh was next to score, finishing off from short range as England’s power game proved far too much. (47-0, 33 mins)

Half time: England U18 47-0 Scotland U18

England didn’t take long in the second half to score again. Tomali broke up the left wing, was tap-tackled just short and offloaded to Isaac Mears who dived over. (54-0, 41 mins)

Scotland began to find some aggression and fluency, and reached the line for the first time in the 47th minute after a string of penalties, but Harvey Preston was held up as England scrambled well.

But from the resulting goal line dropout, Scotland were on the board. Christian Lindsay at first receiver found Rory McHaffie sprinting on his inside, and the full back flew over the line from the 22. (54-5, 49 mins)

Scotland were on the attack again soon later, but another intercept, this time from substitute Zac Finch who ran it in from his own half, gave England another score. (61-5, 53 mins)

England grabbed their 10th try six minutes later, as they broke up the middle Archie Appleby scored on the right a phase later. (66-5, 59 mins)

It was Jerold Gorleku who grabbed the final England score, fighting over in the right corner from short range. (71-5, 67 mins)

Scotland next play Ireland U18 on Monday 14 April (kick off 3.15pm BST).

Head Coach Ross Miller said: “Obviously that was a tough lesson for the players. England showed us the standard you need to be at in this competition, they were very good, and we will learn from that.

“We conceded three tries in transition and two intercepts so obviously there’s some learnings there. The decision-making let us down at times which we’ll have to look at.

“I thought the lineout was excellent, and we had some good individual performances from the likes of Harvey Preston, Jack Utterson and Christian Lindsay. I thought our bench made a difference too, they came on in difficult circumstances and showed real effort.

“We need to learn quickly from today, because we play Ireland on Monday and we need to be better. We’ll review it and we’ll look to improve in a lot of areas and also build on the good areas as well. The players will be better for this experience.”

England U18: 15. James Pater 14. Junior Denny 13. Victor Worsnip 12. Will Knight CAPTAIN 11. Charlie Tamani 10. Oscar Talbot 9. Isaac Mears 1. Alan Poku 2. Kealan Freeman-Price 3. Harry Wright 4. Freddie Ogden-Metherell 5. Henry Laidlow 6. Elliot Williams 7. Jack Lewis 8. George Marsh

Replacements: 16. Jerold Gorleku 17. Oliver Spencer 18. Sam Bland 19. Archie Appleby 20. Tate Williams 21. Matthew Branch-Holland 22. James Townsend 23. Hugh Shields 24. Declan Treacey 25. Henry Lumley 26. Zac Finch

Scotland U18: 15. Rory McHaffie 14. Luca Mathieson 13. Will Corbett 12. Joe Taylor 11. Glen Gammell 10. Henry Widdowson 9. Gregor Johnston 1. Logan Hendrie 2. Jack Utterson 3. Jackson Rennie 4. Dan Shellard 5. Christian Lindsay CAPTAIN 6. Harry Jackaman 7. Harvey Preston 8. Lloyd Moncrieff

Replacements: 16. Dan Casserly 17. Max Morrison 18. Oliver Anderson 19. Ashton Young 20. Will Lockhart 21. Jack Nesbitt 22. Cameron Trayler 23. Ben MacDougall 24. Harry Clark 25. David Barrie 26. Ben McDonald

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