Sam Costelow’s scintillating performance led Wales Under-20s to a narrow 23-22 victory over England in an enthralling encounter at Kingsholm that sees them climb off the bottom of the Under-20s Six Nations table.
Fly-half Costelow scored one try thanks to his dancing feet and created another to help Wales into a 14-5 half-time lead – Emmanuel Iyogun powering over for the hosts – but George Barton and Sam Crean brought England right back into the match early in the second half.
Costelow slotted a pair of penalties to keep the visitors narrowly in front before Jack van Poortvliet finally gave England their first lead of the game late on but Costelow had the final say with a pinpoint drop goal.
Both sides made a nervy start in front of around 7,000 fans at Kingsholm, with mistakes defining the opening exchanges, but a moment of magic from Costelow on 12 minutes settled things down.
Receiving the ball in the ten channel, the Wales fly-half cut back through the breakdown area, scythed through a gap in the home defence and then sold a dummy to get past the final man and over the whitewash.
His conversion made it 7-0 and although it took England more than 20 minutes to have their first visit to the Welsh 22, they left with a try when powerful prop Iyogun – making his first start for his country at Under-20s level – kept his legs churning to drive his way over the line.
Wales then set about dictating play in the home half and got their reward five minutes before the break, with Costelow again the creator-in-chief. He had had put a drop-goal attempt just wide but, from the restart, made a jinking break into the 22 and good support from lock Ben Carter gained Wales more yards before he offloaded to Bradley Roderick to power over.
The hosts came flying out of the blocks after the break as a series of powerful forward carries took them right to the Wales line, eventually allowing fly-half Barton to dive between two tackles from close-range for the score.
After Barton missed his second conversion, Costelow almost immediately extended the advantage back to seven points with a penalty and England had a try through Tom Roebuck ruled out for a forward pass from Max Ojomoh in the build-up.
Home full-back Freddie Steward was sin-binned for taking his opposite number Jacob Beetham out in the air on 55 minutes, yet it was the 14 men who got the next try as Barton pinned Wales deep with a pinpoint kick to the corner.
With the ball just in Wales’s in-goal area at the back of a subsequent ruck and scrum-half Ellis Bevan setting up for a box kick, Crean alertly darted round the edge and dived on the ball for an opportunistic score.
Another Costelow penalty almost immediately after the restart stretched the visiting lead to 20-15 heading into the final 15 minutes before the Wales fly-half showed his defensive chops with a brilliant covering tackle to force Roebuck into touch when the winger looked clear down the right flank.
England weren’t denied for long though as Jack Clement darted through a gap and fed Van Poortvliet, who rode a tackle to score the try – Will Haydon-Wood’s conversion giving them a first lead of the match at 22-20.
However, Costelow continued his brilliant all-round display by nailing a drop goal to put his side back in front five minutes from time and the defence held strong to see out a memorable win.
