England Under 18s continued their development tour of Argentina on Wednesday night with a six try 39-19 victory against Buenos Aires at Casi Club Athletic San Isidro.
 
The win was England’s second victory on tour after also defeating Tucuman Under 18s 40-24 on Saturday. They now face Mendoza Under 18s on Sunday before taking on Argentina in an international test match on Sunday August 3rd.
 
Gloucester’s Freddie Burns claimed a brace of tries on route to the win, with Will Hurrell, Lee Imiolek, Tom Homer and skipper Alex Gray also touching down.  Burns also added one conversion with Newcastle Falcons’ Rory Clegg also converting seven points.

 Rory Clegg - Photo courtesy of RFU & Getty Images

For the second game in succession England had to come from behind with Buenos Aires adding an early penalty, but an early try for Leicester wing Hurrell steadied England. A good scrum led to the score, with the ball being recycled out to Burns. The centre then made a nice break to give Bristol’s Christian Wade space before offloading to Hurrell who finished off the move. Clegg converted.
 
Buenos Aires hit back with a second penalty just minutes later, but again England gave themselves some breathing space with a second touch down. This time England turned the ball over on the half-way line and skipper Gray outpaced the opposition’s defence to make vital space up-field. With Clegg, Burns, Jamie Gibson and Jacob Rowan taking on the attack a decisive pass saw Sale prop Imiolek cross on the right wing to score to give the tourists a 12-6 lead.
 
On 17 minute Burns added the first of his two tries after a great interception deep in England’s 22. He then ran the length of the pitch to score under the posts. Clegg again converted, before adding a penalty.
 
Burns quickly followed up his first score when England turned over Buenos Aires on 50 metres. Clegg then off loaded to Burns who ran in for his second try, though England were left rueing a late first-half touch down for the hosts.
 
London Irish centre Homer made amends though with a 39th minute try after a good line-out and drive saw the backs set-up nicely.  Wing Wade then evaded two defenders to get the ball out to Homer who dived over the line to score, handing England a 32-11 lead at the break.
 
After the restart a spirited Buenos Aires outfit bounced back and ran in a try and a penalty to reduce the deficit to 13 points, but that was where their charge ended with skipper Gray sealing the victory with a 60th minute try.
 
England Under 18s Forward’s Coach Martin Haag said: “This was a tough game, but we had a good first-half. Unfortunately it went a bit scrappy after the break but this was a step-up from our last match.
 
“The whole England pack performed very well today, especially in the scrum.  The half-backs, Jordi and Rory, also did well as did Burns, who picked up two tries, and Hurrell.
 
“Overall though this was a good team performance. Inevitably though there is still a lot more work to do before our next match against Mendoza and then Argentina but we are looking forward to it.”
 
Captain Gray added: “This was a good game, but we did lack precision at times. They were what we expected and certainly good in the scrum, but now we have got to turn our attentions to Mendoza. We are lucky enough to have England Coach Mike Ford delivering a defence session on Friday, so we are all looking forward to learning a lot from that too.”

Captain  Alex Gray - Photos courtesy of RFU & Getty Images

 
England Under 18s
 
1 Lee Imiolek (Sale Sharks & Sandbach), 2 David Blackwell (Gloucester Rugby & Hartpury), 3 James Currie (Bath Rugby & Millfield), 4 Joe Quinn (St Wilfred's School & Leeds Carnegie), 5 Jamie Gibson (London Irish &  Marlborough College), 6 Will Welch (Newcastle Falcons & RGS Newcastle), 7 Jacob Rowan (Leeds Carnegie &    Bradford Grammar), 8 Alex Gray (C) (Newcastle Falcons & Barnard Castle), 9 Jordi Pasqualin (Gloucester Rugby & The Kings School), 10 Rory Clegg (Newcastle Falcons & Barnard Castle), 11 Will Hurrell (Leicester Tigers & Queen Elizabeth II), 12 Freddie Burns ( Gloucester & Bath College), 13 Tom Homer (London Irish & Milton Abbey), 14 Christian Wade (London Wasps & RGS High Wycombe), 15 Tom Catterick (Newcastle Falcons & Barnard Castle). Replacements: 16 Jimmy Stevens (Leicester Tigers), 17 Joe Marler (Harlequins), 18 James Gaskell (Sale Sharks & Sandbach), 19 Sam Jones (London Wasps & Aylesbury Grammar School), 20 Sam Harrison (Leicester Tigers & John Cleveland College), 21 Owen Farrell (Saracens & St Georges) 22 Andy Forsyth (Leicester Tigers & QEGS Wakefield), 23 Marcus Watson (London Irish & St George’s College).
 
Tries: Hurrell, Imiolek, Burns (2), Homer, Gray.
Penalties: Clegg
Conversions: Clegg (2), Burns

Substitutions: Stevens for Blackwell (44), Jones for Welch (44), Gaskell for Gibson (55), Marler for Imiolek (58), Farrell for Catterick (61), Watson for Hurrell (61), Forsyth for Homer (65).

 
England Under 18s Argentinean Tour Itinerary
 
England v Tucuaman Under 18s, July 19th, Los Tos Tarcos, kick-off 8pm BST WON 40-24
 
England v Buenos Aires Under 18s, July 23rd, 11pm BST WON 39-19
 
England v Mendoza Under 18s, July 27th, KO TBC
 
England v Argentina, August 3rd, KO TBC