England U18s began their 2014 season with a 28-6 victory over Scotland at Dlaziel Park in Motherwell this weekend.

Two late England scores gave the scoreline a decisive look that it perhaps had not warranted, though there is no doubt that England played very well.

Depsite only garnering 6 points from the game, both from first half penalties from Millfield’s Adam Hastings, Scotland had reason to be fairly pleased with their efforts, with Head Coach Eddie Pollock saying:

“I thought that the effort from the whole team was fantastic today. We put them under real pressure, but we were punished for making two errors in the last five minutes, where they turned over and scored at the other end.”

“You have to give England credit for their performance, for their ambition and the way they can score from anywhere on the field, however those scores came off our errors today.”

“We played some really good rugby. I’m very proud of the players. We’ve got a decent squad here and I’m sure they’ll improve from this experience.”

As Pollock alluded to though, it was England’s ability to score tries from anywhere that was the big difference between the sides. Things had been somewhat nip and tuck before a bullish England maul entered Scottish territory and then Peter Symonds College’s fly half, Joe Marchant sent in an inch perfect crossfield kick for Rotimi Segun of Stowe to score.

Again things remained tight though as Hastings and Rugby School’s Harry Mallinder exchanged penalties to send England into half time 11-6 up.

Things remained equally tight in the early periods of the second half but there game exploded into life just shy of the hour mark when Sir Thomas Rich’s flanker, Sam Underhill pounced on some loose ball and showed truly outstanding pace to score – having started on halfway.

A Mallinder conversion took the score out to 18-6 yet still Scotland came hammering away. However much like their senior counterparts, the Scots seemed unable to get that all important try when they had the chance and soon England were on the attack again and taking the game away from Scotland.

They scored first though Leicester Tigers’ Charlie Thacker before some wonderful work from Mallinder sent Joe Marchant crashing over to leave the final score at Scotland U18 6-28 England U18.

With the FIRA/AER European Championships looming, England look in a strong position, as ever, to be able to lay a serious assault on the Championship. Scotland look in decent shape too though, and if they can convert pressure into points then they could surprise a few.

Full time: Scotland U18 (6) 6-28 (11) England U18

Scotland:

15 Ruari Howarth,  14 Ben Robbins,  13 Adam Hastings,  12 Josh Laird,  11 Robbie Nairn,  10 Rory Hutchinson,  9 Hugh Fraser;  1 Murray McCallum,  2 Jake Kerr,  3 Zander Fagerson,  4 Stephen Ainslie,  5 Andrew Davidson,  6 Scott Burnside,  7 Matthew Smith,  8 Jamie Ritchie (captain).

Replacements: 16 Lewis Anderson,  17 Gary Robertson,  18 Callum Sheldon,  19 Lewis Wynne,  20 Ally Miller,  21 Andrew Manson,  23 Reuben Norville.

Scorers:

Pen – Hastings x2

England:

15 George Perkins (Oaklands College),  14 Rotimi Segun (Stowe),  13 Lucas Slowik (Filton College),  12 Harry Mallinder (Rugby),  11 Kai Little (Hartpury College),  10 Joe Marchant (Peter Symonds’ College),  9 Jack Maunder (Blundell’s);  1
Lewis Boyce (Prince Henry’s Grammar School),  2 Jack Walker (Prince Henry’s Grammar School),  3 Jack Stanley (Truro College),  4 Stanley South (Whitgift),  5 George Nott (King’s School, Chester),  6 Sam Smith (Old Swinford Hosptial),  7 Sam Underhill (Sir Thomas Rich’s),  8 Will Safe (Hartpury College).

Replacements: 16 Ollie Adams (St Paul’s Catholic College),  17 Owen Hills(Wyggeston & Queen Elizabeth’s),  18 Jack Spencer (Hartpury College),  19 Huw Taylor (Old Swinford Hospital),  20 Callum Chick (Gosforth Academy),  21 Alexander Mitchell (Lymm High School),  22 Charlie Thacker (Leicester Grammar School),  23 Taylor Prell (Giggleswick).

Scorers:

Tries – Segun, Underhill, Thacker, Marchant

Con – Mallinder

Pen – Mallinder x2