England Under 18s opened their Six Nations Festival campaign with a bang on Wednesday at Temple Hill RFC in Cork, running in 12 tries to secure a 78-8 victory over Italy, writes Julia Hutton.
The young guns, who will also play Scotland and France over the coming seven days, shared the tries between them with 12 players all grabbing a try each while Bath College & Bath Rugby player Freddie Burns and Barnard Castle & Newcastle Falcons' Rory Clegg kicked nine conversions between them.
England Coach Alex Sanderson said: "This is a great start to the tournament. I couldn't have hoped for much better. The lads have come off the pitch elated but tired too and now they know they must recharge their batteries for another two games in seven days.
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"What was most pleasing was that the team kept to the structures and the principles we have been working hard at for the last seven months even when we were far ahead in the game."
Bradford GS & Leeds Carnegie lock Jacob Rowan, who is one of just three players in this squad who featured in last year's Six Nations Festival, opened England's try count after just five minutes. The score came after a great break by centre Tom Homer at a turn-over who then off-loaded to Rowan to score. Burns added the conversion.
A minute later and England led 14-0 when wing Sam Smith benefitted from a good attacking move by captain Tom Casson who then set-up Smith with an accurate off-load. Burns added the conversion.
The forwards then had their chance with Gloucestershire's hooker David Blackwell driving over from a well-worked line-out deep in Italy's 22. Burns missed the conversion but it didn't matter with England extending their lead to 26-0 with No. 8 Rob Milligan clearing the ball out from the back of the scrum to set-up Christian Wade who scored under the posts for another converted try.
Millfield and Bath prop Jamie Currie then grabbed try number five after just 18 minutes but the one way traffic halted momentarily when Italy's Nicola Corbanese claimed the Azzuri's first try. Fly-half Fillippo Michelini missed the conversion but made amends moments later with a penalty to claw back to 33-8.
England, however, had the final word before the break with Rory Clegg, on the field as a blood replacement, touching down for a try which he also converted to hand England a 40-8 lead at half-time.
England continued where they left off after the restart. With Burns back on the field the Bath player made an immediate impact touching down for try number seven after just one minute.
England's five replacements, who were rolled on to the field at the start of the second-half, also continued the momentum with Tom Catterick of Barnard Castle & Newcastle Falcons, handing England a 52-8 lead.
Replacement No. 8 Alex Gray was also on the score sheet with Tom Holmes setting up the score after a great break. Clegg converted before adding another moments later when scrum half Sam Harrison crossed.
Andy Forsyth and Mako Vunipola then had the final word for England, running in two further tries to secure the impressive 78-8 victory.
England next play France on Saturday March 29th at the Cork Institute of Technology, kick-off 230pm.
England
1 Lee Imiolek (Myerscough College & Sale Sharks), 2 David Blackwell (Hartpury College & Gloucester Rugby), 3 James Currie (Millfield & Bath Rugby), 4 Joe Quinn (St Wilfred's School & Leeds Carnegie), 5 James Gaskell (Sandbach & Sale Sharks), 6 Jacob Rowan (Bradford GS & Leeds Carnegie), 7 Joe Barker (QEGS Wakefield & Leeds Carnegie), 8 Rob Milligan (Rugby School & Northampton Saints), 9 Sam Harrison (John Cleveland College & Leicester Tigers), 10 Freddie Burns (Bath College & Bath Rugby), 11 Sam Smith (Cranleigh & Harlequins), 12 Tom Homer (Milton Abbey & London Irish), 13 Tom Casson (Sedbergh & Sale Sharks) C, 14 Christian Wade (RGS High Wycombe & London Wasps), 15 Jack Wallace (RGS High Wycombe & London Wasps). Replacements: 16 Joe Marler (Richmond College & Harlequins), 17 Jamie George (Haileybury & Saracens), 18 Mako Vunipola (Millfield & Bristol Rugby), 19 Tom Holmes (Sandbach & Sale Sharks), 20 Joe Trayfoot (Epsom College & Harlequins), 21 Alex Gray (Barnard Castle & Newcastle Falcons), 22 Jordi Pasqualin (The King's School Gloucs & Gloucester Rugby), 23 Rory Clegg (Barnard Castle & Newcastle Falcons), 24 Will Hurrell (Wyggeston & QE1 Coll Leicester Tigers), 25 Andy Forsyth (QEGS Wakefield & Leicester Tigers), 26 Tom Catterick (Barnard Castle & Newcastle Falcons).
Tries: Rowan, Smith, Blackwell, Wade, Currie, Clegg, Burns, Catterick, Gray, Harrison, Forsyth, Vuniploa
Conversions: Burns (5), Clegg (4)
Penalties:
Substitutions: Vunipola for Currie (2 mins, blood, reversed 5 mins), Clegg for Burns (30 mins blood, reversed 35 mins), Catterick for Wallace, Gray for Milligan, Trayfoot for Rowan, Forsyth for Homer, Homes for Gaskell (all 35 mins), Hurrell for Casson (49), Vunipola for Currie (52), Clegg for Burns (57), Marler for Imiolek (59), Pasqualin for Harrison (60).
Italy
15-9: Marcello Paglia (Rugby Noceto FC), Michele Mortali (Gran Parma Rugby), Costantino Ricciardi (Petrarca), Giovanbattista Venditti (SSD Unione Capitolina), Giovanno Frapporti (Valpolicella), Fillippo Michelini (Viadana), Edoardo Gori (Cavalieri),
1-8: Nicola Corbanese, Enrico Lioineri (Ruggers Tarvisum), Zamparo Matteo (Amatori San Dona), Daniele Fratalochhi (Sambendettese), Paolo Stinchello (SSD Unione Capitolina), Marco Barbino (Petraca), Fillppo Ferrarini (Noceto FC), Gabriele Cicchinelli (SSD Unione Capitolina)
Replacements: Andrea Manici (Gran Parma), Nicola Corbanese (Bennetton Treviso), Antonio Denti (Viadana), Lorenzo Santelli (ASD Universita Cosenza), Fillipo Cazzola (Montebelluna), Tommaso Bergonzini (Viadana), Nicola Belardo (Partenope), Sebastian Rodwell (Firenze), Francesco Lenzi (Cavalieri),, Alberto Chillon (Petrarca), Tommaso Benvenuti (Viadana).
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