England Under 20 celebrate

England Under 20 40 Wales Under 20 9

It was a game for new faces as first time starters Anthony Watson (2), Sam Hill and Josh Basset all scored tries, while Tommy Bell kicked eight points. Luke Cowan-Dickie and Marland Yarde touched down for England’s other tries.

Despite the 31-point win, it was Wales who got on the board first, Welsh fly half Sam Davies scored an 18th minute drop goal, just after he saw a penalty sail wide, but it was England who got the first try of the match.

Bedford Blues wing Bassett was on the end of scrum half Dan Robson’s precise pass to touch down after several phases of strong forward play, Leeds fly half Bell added the extras.

England’s second try came ten minutes before the break. A strong scrum just outside the 22 freed up the backs and impressive Quins centre Charlie Walker showed good pace to tee up London Irish wing Watson for his first try, five days after he scored for England Under 18 against France.

Davies then kicked two penalties for Wales, either side of one from Bell, to put the visitors to within a converted try of the hosts at the break.

The second half started much like the first, both sides showed plenty of guts without really penetrating the opposing 22.

With half an hour to go, England full back Ben Ransom, playing in his twelfth consecutive Under 20 game, kicked his side into life. A long punt up field from the No. 15 put real pressure on the Welsh defence and Exeter prop Cowan-Dickie eventually popped the ball over after several strong phases of play from the English pack.

It was another Exeter player who got England’s fourth try, Anthony Watson and Tommy Bell combined well before the latter passed to Sam Hill to score and move the lead to 21 points.

Watson got his second and England’s fifth with ten minutes remaining. Smooth passing across the backline set up the 17-year-old to score his third Under 20 try in two matches.

Marland Yarde rounded off the scoring with his fourth try of this season's Six Nations, good pace from Ransom set the London Irish wing up to touch down.

Speaking after the match, man of the match Charlie Walker said: “It was great to get the win in front of such a supportive home crowd. The first half was a bit stop-start, but in the second half I felt that we really moved up the gears and played some good rugby.

“This was the first time a lot of the guys have played for the 20s and it was refreshing to see how well everyone played – to a man I thought everyone did their job excellently. We’ll take a lot from this win, but we know that there’s still a lot to work on, and we’ll look to be even better when we play Italy in Rovigo next Saturday.”

Points: Bassett 1T, Watson 2T, Cowan-Dickie 1T, Hill 1T, Yarde 1T; Bell 1C, 2P

England Under 20 starting XV v Wales

15) Ben Ransom (Saracens)
14) Anthony Watson (London Irish)
13) Charlie Walker (Harlequins)
12) Sam Hill (Exeter Chiefs)
11) Josh Bassett (Bedford Blues)
10) Tommy Bell (Sale Sharks)
9) Dan Robson (Gloucester Rugby)

1) Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs)
2) Koree Britton (Gloucester Rugby)
3) Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins)
4) Tom Price (Leicester Tigers)
5) George Merrick (Harlequins)
6) Dom Barrow (Leeds Carnegie)
7) Chris Walker (C) (Leeds Carnegie)
8) Jack Clifford (Harlequins)

Replacements:

16) Scott Spurling (Saracens) on for Koree Britton 65 mins
17) Alec Hepburn (London Wasps) on for Luke Cowan-Dickie 65 mins
18) Nick Auterac (Saracens) on for Kyle Sinckler 70 mins
19) Elliot Stooke (Gloucester Rugby) on for George Merrick 63 mins
20) Will Skuse (Bath Rugby) on for Tom Price 45 mins
21) Alex Day (Northampton Saints) on for Dan Robson 70 mins
22) Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs) on for Tommy Bell 70 mins
23) Marland Yarde (London Irish) on for Josh Bassett 50 mins