The 2018 Under-20 Six Nations is heading for a thrilling conclusion, with three teams still in with a shout of claiming the Championship, following a dramatic fourth round of action.
England inflicted a first defeat on the previously free-scoring France in a top-of-the-table clash, while Ireland kept their title hopes alive by edging past Scotland and Italy claimed a long-awaited victory at Wales. France Under-20s 6-22 England Under-20s Stade de la Mediterranee
Cameron Redpath scored the only try of the match in tricky conditions in Beziers, as England ended France’s Grand Slam hopes and kept their own Championship chances alive.
Just points difference now separates the two sides at the top of the table, after a match dominated by the boot of English fly-half Tom Hardwick that saw the hosts finish with 13 men.
After Romain Ntamack and Hardwick had swapped penalties, England went into half-time with a 10-3 lead when Redpath dived over in the corner two minutes before the break.
Hardwick landed another two penalties to one from Ntamack to extend the visitors’ lead to ten points before the match was effectively decided by a double sending-off.
French replacements Hassane Kolingar and Pierre-Henri Azagoh both saw red for a dangerous tackle on Fraser Dingwall, with Hardwick kicking the resulting penalty before slotting another to complete the win.
England Under-20s head coach Steve Bates was delighted with the way his players put their defeat to Scotland in round three behind them to record a valuable win on the road.
Bates said: “It was a really big Test match, which had the feel of a big game and to come here to Beziers and win in France against France is a significant result.
“We still made some errors in the first 20 minutes and we know we can get better, but the side is developing all the time and that is crucial. The overall performance though was very good.
“We’ve got lots of our game in place, but we know we can add a bit more continuity and fluidity to the way we play.
“We end our tournament against Ireland and we know that is going to be a difficult game, but we haven’t seen the best of our exciting backline yet and we are going to give Ireland our best shot.” Ireland Under-20s 30-25 Scotland Under-20s Donnybrook
Jack O’Sullivan’s two tries helped Ireland to defeat a spirited Scotland in Dublin and claim their second win of the Championship to move within three points of France and England.
O’Sullivan was set up by a searing break from Michael Silvester to score the opening try after just three minutes before Harry Byrne landed two penalties to take the score to 13-0.
Ross Thompson put Scotland on the board with two kicks of his own before Matthew Agnew forced his way over the try line to extend Ireland’s lead.
The game opened up in the second half as Scottish tries from Kyle Rowe and Martin Hughes sandwiched an effort from Matthew Dalton that was set up by another Silvester break.
With Scotland now only five points behind, O’Sullivan made the game safe for Ireland with seven minutes to go, with Nathan McBeth’s try off the final play giving the visitors a losing bonus point.
Ireland Under-20s head coach Noel McNamara’s feet were firmly on the ground after an exciting match that he felt his side made heavy weather of winning.
McNamara said: “For large parts of the game we were in control but unfortunately we managed to find a way to allow the Scots back in to it. They really took their opportunities.
“You can’t get bored of doing the simple things and we didn’t in the first half.
“The message at half-time was to do the same again, but unfortunately we did make an error and compounded it with another error and that brought them back into the game.” Wales Under-20s 7-18 Italy Under-20s Parc Eirias
Italy claimed their first-ever victory Under-20 Six Nations victory over Wales, thanks to tries from Michele Mancini Parri and Matteo Luccardi at Colwyn Bay.
Not only was this the Italian’s first win of this year’s Championship, it ended a run of 20 consecutive defeats that stretched back to 2014.
Mancini Parri opened the scoring for them after six minutes off the back of a driving maul before Antonio Rizzi’s penalty extended the lead to 8-0 at half-time.
Wales finally responded two minutes after the restart through Tommy Rogers’ converted try, but Rizzi’s penalty kept them at bay before Luccardi sealed the match with 14 minutes left through another pushover score.
