England men U20s defeat Australia in World Rugby U20 Championship

Jun 13 • General News, International, Junior Rugby, World Rugby Junior Championship • 3909 Views • Comments Off on England men U20s defeat Australia in World Rugby U20 Championship

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...

England sealed a 56-33 bonus-point victory over Australia in their final pool game of the World Rugby U20 Championship, scoring eight tries in the win.

Having lost their opening fixture of the tournament to Ireland, before beating Italy in match two, the result means they finish third in their pool and cannot advance to the top four of the Championship.

They will next face Ireland in the fifth-place play-off on Monday, 17 June, KO 7.30pm BST, in Rosario, Argentina with New Zealand and Wales making up the other half of the draw.

England led 42-12 at the break, scoring six tries through Fraser Dingwall, Ollie Sleightholme, Tom de Glanville, Aaron Hinkley and a brace for Ted Hill, with Josh Hodge converting them all.

Australia crossed via Noah Lolesio and Isaac Lucas but it was a half dominated by Steve Bates’ side.

There were second-half scores for Manu Vunipola and Tom Willis which Hodge converted while Australia crossed via Will Harris, Fraser McReight and Carlo Tizzano to secure a losing bonus point and top the group.

Australia were given an early red card with Pat Tafa sent off for a high tackle inside three minutes.

From the resulting penalty, England opted to scrum and having won another penalty and a further set-piece saw Dingwall crash through Australia’s midfield for the opening try.

Soon after, there was a second try for England, Sleightholme collecting a spilled up-and-under just inside the Australia half before flying home.

Neat handling resulted in Lolesio slicing through for Australia’s first score and Will Harrison converted for 14-7.

Lucas finished off an Australia counter going over in the corner, but Hill crashed through midway in the half to extend the lead and the flanker scored a second soon after, taking advantage of an overlap on the left wing which Hodge converted.

De Glanville carved through from close range for a fifth England try before Hinkley crashed over just before the break and Hodge maintained his perfect record from the tee with a sixth conversion.

Vunipola found space to dart through for a seventh England try, while Harris jinked over for Australia before the hour mark.

A pick and go from Willis saw him burrow over but Australia replied with captain Fraser McReight and Tizzano, sealing a four-try bonus point.

Head coach Steve Bates said: “I’m really pleased with the performance, it was much improved. We cleared the breakdown really well, particularly in the first half. We carried hard and made ground and that was the catalyst for us to create some quick ball which meant we were on the front foot.

“We used our dominance up front and looked like a team that was confident on the front foot but there were some really good performances from our lads and they will feel a lot better after that.

“I feel a lot of sympathy for Australia because we suffered two yellow and a red in our first match against Ireland and that affected the result and it was similar here.”

England U20s v Australia

15. Tom de Glanville (Bath Rugby)

14. Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints)

13. Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints) – captain

12. Cameron Redpath (Sale Sharks)

11. Josh Hodge (Newcastle Falcons)

10. Manu Vunipola (Saracens)

9. Sam Maunder (Exeter Chiefs)

1. James Kenny (Exeter Chiefs)

2. Will Capon (Bristol Bears)

3. Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers)

4. Joel Kpoku (Saracens)

5. Richard Capstick (Exeter Chiefs)

6. Ted Hill (Worcester Warriors)

7. Aaron Hinkley (Gloucester Rugby)

8. Rusiate Tuima (Exeter Chiefs)

Replacements

16. Nic Dolly (Sale Sharks)

17. Olly Adkins (Gloucester Rugby)

18. Alfie Petch (Exeter Chiefs)

19. Kai Owen (Worcester Warriors)

20. Alex Coles (Northampton Saints)

21. Tom Willis (Wasps)

22. Ollie Fox (Bath Rugby)

23. Connor Doherty (Sale Sharks)

24. Luke James (Sale Sharks)

25. Tom Seabrook (Gloucester Rugby)

England U20 fixtures and results

4 June: England U20s 26-42 Ireland U20s

8 June: England U20s 24-23 Italy U20s

12 June: England U20s 56-33 Australia U20s.

Knockout stages on Monday, 17 June and finals day on Saturday, 22 June, live on ITV.

Related Posts

« »