U20s 6N: England's pack power prevails over error-prone Scotland

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England U20s 57

Scotland U20s 13

ALAN LORIMER

IF Scotland were hoping to build on what were good second-half performances against both Italy and Ireland, then perhaps this match at Newcastle’s Kingston Park against the defending world and Six Nations champions was not the best stage to test a perceived improvement .

England, unbeaten now after three rounds and seemingly heading for a back-to-back Under-20 Six Nations Grand Slam, were just far too strong for the Scots. Kenny Murray‘s team rarely had a chance to string together attacking moves, such was the power up front of the home pack, while the English back line had solidity in defence and pace and panache in attack, albeit enjoying an armchair ride in terms of ball delivery.

Scotland were hampered by the late withdrawal of skipper Johnny Ventisei, who had not recovered fully from a knee injury sustained against Ireland and was replaced by Campbell Waugh. The latter's place on the bench was taken by the Ayr wing Cameron Van Wyk, who, after coming on at half-time, proved to be Scotland's best attacker.

Stating the obvious, the problems for Scotland were up front, even though in the set piece the Scots at times achieved parity. But it would be fair to say there were some defensive frailties among the Scotland backs that contributed to the large deficit. The Scots forward pack could rarely match the grinding strength and skilful individual touches of the English eight, most notably those of double try-scorer and man of the match, hooker Kepu Tuipulotu, surely a star of the future.

Head coach Murray, while accepting that England have so many advantages, nevertheless pointed a number of flaws in his own side. "There were just too many errors and the kick chase was poor. We had a couple of opportunities in both halves but we didn't capitalise," said Murray, who went on to note a few positives from the match. 

"I thought Freddy Douglas showed quality and was praised by the England coach. To play for 80 minutes after just returning from injury was remarkable. I also thought that Cameron Van Wyk had a few good carries and was strong in defence.

"But they had just too much gas behind the scrum and they have players who are playing in the Top 14, the English Premiership Cup. They're playing at a higher level".

As expected, England looked threatening from the off, but on each occasion they entered the Scotland red zone in the opneing minutes, new skipper Douglas  produced trademark turnovers. But even Scotland's ace jackal could not prevent England from opening the scoring as new cap Campbell Ridl, coming off his blindside wing, caused mayhem with his arcing run to cross for an unconverted try. 

Commendably, Scotland hit back with pressure on the England line. And after the Scots forwards were unable to bludgeon their way over the line, the ball was whipped back to Matthew Urwin, whose perfectly placed cross kick fell into the welcoming hands of Fergus Watson, giving the former Biggar man an easy run in.  Urwin was just wide with his conversion attempt to leave the scores level. 

Not for long, however, as England scored from a driven line-out, Tuipulotu claiming the spoils. This time Ben Coen added the conversion for a 12-5 lead.

Scotland were soon under the cosh again, and when Urwin was carded for a dubiously deliberate knock-on, the challenge became much harder. But to their credit, the 14 men were able to grab the next points from a penalty by full-back Jack Brown to cut England's lead to four points. 

The Scots were then made to play for their numerical reduction as England turned the screw with wave after wave of power play that ended with their experienced No 8 Kane James forcing his way over from close range, Coen converting. 

The misery continued, as this time Tuipulotu, after carrying effectively, put in a delicate grubber kick that threw the Scotland defence into chaos and resulted in a try for prop Tye Raymont,  converted by Coen. That stretched England's lead to 26-8, and the bonus point was in the bag with just 33 minutes of the match played. 

England had more bullets to fire before half-time,  their powerful play producing a second try for Tuipulotu to give them a commanding 31-8 interval lead. 

Although staring down the barrel of a huge defeat, Scotland showed immense character in the opening minutes of the second half, first with a rampaging run by Reuben Logan that was stopped just a metre short of the England line and then an escape down the right touchline by Van Wyk.

But somewhat predictably it was England who struck first in the second half, working a cute line-out move that sent skipper Tom Burrow on an impossible-to-stop 5m charge to the line. From the touchline Coen showed his skill off the tee to land his fourth conversion.

England then took complete command of the game with multiple attacks and from a maul the men in white moved the ball wide ending with full-back George Pearson evading the attempted tackle of Brown to score try No 7, converted this time by replacement stand-off Josh Bellamy.

The talented Bellamy then created a try for wing Jack Bracken to bring up the half century of points. 

Fortunately for their morale, Scotland finally found their attacking mojo, ignited by the live-wire sub Van Wyk  with a defence-beating run and taken on by Douglas and Brown. Yule then assumed the playmaker role to switch the attack to the opposite side of the field, ending with Oliver Duncan charging over for his second try of the championship

Inevitably England still had time to show their scoring prowess and after a midfield break by Ridl the ball was moved with precision from the final ruck for Angus Hall to notch England's ninth try, Bellamy's conversion proving to be the final points of what was a predictably one-sided match. 

Teams – 

England U20s:G Pearson; J Bracken (T Offiah 60), A Hall, N Lilley, C Ridl; B Coen (J Bellamy 49), L Friday (J Weimann 19); R McEachran (O Scola 49), K Tuipulotu (L Gulley 56), T Raymont (V Sesa 49), O Sodeke (A Ainsworth-Cave 64), T Burrow, J Kpoku, G Timmins (C Treacy 60), K James.

Scotland U20s: J Brown; N Moncrieff (C van Wyk 41), C Waugh (R Wolfenden 61) , K Yule, F Watson; M Urwin, N Cowan (H McArthur 64); J Shearer (O McKenna 45), S Stephen (J Roberts 45), O Blyth-Lafferty (J Stewart 64), B Godsell (C Moss 50), D Halkon, O Duncan, F Douglas, R Logan (B Allen 64).  

Referee: Filippo Russo (Italy).

Scorers – 

England U20s: Tries: Ridl, Tuipulotu (2), James, Raymont, Burrow, Pearson, Bracken, Hall.  Cons Cohen (4), Bellamy (2).  

Scotland U20s: Tries: Watson, Duncan. Pen: Brown.

Scoring sequence (England U20s first): 5-0, 5-5, 10-5, 12-5, 12-8, 17-8, 19-8, 24-8, 26-8, 31-8 (ht), 36-8, 38-8, 43-8, 45-8, 50-8, 50-13, 55-13, 57-13.

Yellow card –

Scotland U20s: Urwin (22mins).

Attendance: 8,238.

Talking point: A painful match to watch from a Scottish point of view. Scotland simply don't have the resources and the depth to compete at this level as the under-20s’ record against England reveals only too sharply. It would help if more of the u20 players were involved at a higher level and playing meaningful rugby. Van Wyk's entry into the arena proves this point. But without the ethnic mix that England have, Scotland will always struggle. However, history has shown that even although defeats like this are not infrequent, players of international quality do emerge from what is perhaps not the best of systems. 

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