England deliver statement win on opening day of the u18 International series
PAARL.- A clinical, dominant, and statement defining performance sealed an emphatic 41-0 win for England in the opening match of this year’s u18 International Series at Boland Landbou in Paarl on Friday.
Catch all the action from the u18 International Series live on SuperSport Schools – (www.supersportschools.com). Broadcast brought to you by Investec.
England controlled and bossed almost every facet of the match, and with their strong forward pack, quick backline and passionate supporters on the stands managed to pull off arguably one of their best wins against the French at this level.
Going into the match, England had lost to France twice in the U18 Six Nations, their latest defeat coming earlier this year, when they went down (23-22).
In this particular clash, there were no glimpses of that, in fact, it looked like it was England that had gone on an unbeaten run.
The encounter began with high tempo, as expected. The first opportunity of the match fell to England winger, Charlie Griffin who broke the line from his own half, put In a kick, chased it only for the French to recover and dot the ball over at the back.
However, it didn’t take long for the men in red and white to register their first score of the day.
Nine minutes in, England received a penalty outside the French 22-meter line when a player failed to roll away.
They then opted to kick for touch, a decision which paid off in the end. From the resulting line-out, the side used its strong pack of forwards and overpowered France to see skipper Kepueli Tuipulotu go over the line.
If there’s one thing France will rue from the match are the chances they missed out on, knocking on three balls in front of the try line.
Those mistakes sparked the English side to life, and they grew in confidence, and started to play with intensity. They doubled their lead when an overlap on the wing saw Angus Hall score his first of two tries.
England just grew in confidence after that and started to experiment with cross-kicks and interlinking play between the forwards and backs.
Inside centre, Toby Baker put in a cross kick that was caught by Nick Lilley before he offloaded the ball to Griffin as he was being tackled, and just like that, Griffin was in for his side’s third of the match.
That try extended the score to (19-0), and with France playing with 14-men after full-back, Thomas Alary received a yellow card for foul play, there was no hope of closing the margin.
The first half ended with England leading (19-0).
At the start of the second stanza, the French side made wholesome changes, putting on a new look front row, scrumhalf, blind-side flanker and centre.
The changes didn’t seem to make any difference, as their opponents picked up from where they left off.
Eight minutes in, the English extended their lead through a try by big prop, Billy Sela, who tipped the ball in front of the try line and stormed over for his first of the match.
Ollie Davies, who had converted two of the three tries scored in the first half, converted Sela’s try, to extend his side’s lead to (29-0).
By then, France were down and out and England just needed to put one more nail in the coffin. They did that by a further two tries when Griffin scored his second of the match before Finlay Wiseman got his name on the scoreboard to seal an emphatic win for his side.
Despite the two opportunities they missed out on, France never challenged England.
They will face South Africa on Tuesday at 15:00 at Stellenberg High School, whereas England will look to do the double when they take on a Western Province invitational side at 13:00.
Scorers:
England 41 (19) – Tries: Angus Hall (2), Charlie Griffin (2), Kepueli Tuipulotu, Billy Sela, Finlay Wiseman. Conversions: Ollie Davies (3). France 0.
