It was an absorbing opening round of action in both the Men’s and Women’s U18 Six Nations Festival this weekend with some terrific performances throughout.
With the women’s tournament kicking off with two 35 minutes matches per team, this opening round sees us picking just a men’s team of the round as they played a full 70 minute match, allowing more time to impress.
The women’s tournament got off to a cracking start though, not least for Wales who were off to a flyer with two wins from two and not a point conceded, beating Scotland 24-0 and Italy 14-0 ahead of Wednesday’s game against Ireland. France also started with two from two, beating Ireland 26-0 and England 29-7, while England beat Ireland 17-12 in their opener, England and France will meet again on Wednesday.
Scotland and Italy are both without a win after the opening day, having each had a defeat to Wales and then holding each other to a rare 0-0 stalemate that will leave the mouth watering ahead of Wednesday’s clash between the two.
Over in the men’s tournament Scotland, who won this Festival in 2018, were off to a fine start with a 31-17 victory over Italy, who will face an England side that on Wednesday that looked incredibly physical up front in their 33-14 defeat of Wales.
France meanwhile came back from 13-0 down to seal a thrilling 28-23 victory, leaving their hopes of backing up 2019’s unbeaten tournament well and truly alive after what was probably the game of the day. Next up for France are Scotland, while Ireland will take on Wales.
Individually though there were some cracking performances, and we thought we would pick out an XV of the round…which seemed like a great idea until it became apparent just how challenging that might be!
NextGenXV Men’s U18 Six Nations Festival XV of Round 1:
15 Théo Attissogbe (France)
Sadly injured just before half time but looked so threatening up until that point with his running game from deep and ability to step into the tighter channels.
14 Logan Jarvie (Scotland)
Two tries and so nearly a hat-trick, which would have been spectacular as he volleyed the ball through. A brilliant performance and a shout-out to his wing partner Amena Caqusau, who was also terrific.
13 Nicola Bozzo (Italy)
Bozzo packed an also lot in 40 odd minutes before making way as Italy looked to use their full 26-man squad. A scorching solo try was the highlight, but it was some stellar work in defence that sealed the deal in our XV of the week. Wales’ Louie Hennessey was also superb in defeat.
12 Emilien Trezieres (France)
A brilliant try after Gazzotti’s (who also made the XV) break stood out, but throughout the game Trezieres was full of dangerous, darting, running and some lovely handling.
11 Titoan Rocher (France)
An athletic finish to a glorious French move ended up proving crucial in France’s opening day victory. Competition for the wing spots was feisty, but elite finishing is sometimes the difference and so it proved for Rocher and France.
10 Hugo Reus (France)
A fairly quiet day for fly halves in the opening round, though Townsend, Taylor, and Murphy all had their moments for Scotland, England, and Ireland respectively. Reus gets the nod though, his kicking ultimately made the difference for France, and some of his handling through general play was a delighted, as were back to back breaks in successive phases.
9 Murdock Lock (Scotland)
As the game wore on against Italy, so Lock’s influence grew, but the end he was running the show. Scored a try early on, but this was a performance of real quality from the Wellington College scrum half. Ollie Allan had a strong game for England.
1 Ethan Clarke (England)
The England front row go in en masse, and little wonder, they were immense against Wales. Clarke was outstanding, both in the tight and in the loose and while the likes of France’s Léo Ametlla were good, Clarke was a step above.
2 Craig Wright (England)
Again, the whole England front row was outstanding and Wright played a huge role in that, even claiming two tries in the process. That his closest challenger was the man who replaced him, Charlie Smith, says everything about how strong the England pack looked.
3 Jimmy Halliwell (England)
Completing the trio is Halliwell, and what a performance he had. As powerful and destructive in the loose as he was in the tight, and that’s saying something. What’s more, he wanted to play – this was no bash it up the middle display, time and time again he got his hands free to offload, if only, from England’s point of view, the support had been there.
4 Euan McVie (Scotland)
McVie was brilliant for Scotland, one turnover in particular stands out given the speed at which he got his considerable frame into an immovable position. A strong game at the lineout too, McVie looked in fine form. So too did Brent Liufau for France, who came on at half time against Ireland and caused havoc.
5 Jonny Green (Wales)
In a losing cause, Green was utterly terrific. Spoiling mauls, putting in endless tackles, and making a mess of rucks as his bread and butter, but then as the game opened up we saw the full array of skills, breaking the first tackles and getting the offloads away.
6 Liam McConnell (Scotland)
There is a strong argument to say McConnell was the player of the round, he had to be special to keep Ireland’s Stephen Smyth out of this team. McConnell was already having a storming game in close quarters for Scotland, but then in the final ten minutes of the game he completely set himself apart collecting a kick downfield in his own 22 before surging up to the Italian 22 to release Jarvie to score. It was worthy of Stuart Hogg, and yet here was a man wearing six, who had been going about the dark arts all day, making it looking easy.
7 Tristan Woodman (England)
It was about 90 seconds into the game that we started thinking about Woodman as a potential 7 in this team, that was how long it took for him to start looking irrepressible. Allied to a huge shift in defence and at the ruck, one turnover in particular was Pocock-esque, he was also being used heavily as a ball-carrier, and to great effect. Outstanding.
8 Marko Gazzotti (France)
Competition at 8 was fierce, we have a positive note alongside every player that wore 8 in Round 1 – that was how good they all were. Gazzotti edged it though, the balance in his game was particularly impressive and his pace and then accuracy of pass for the key try of the game for France when he released Trezieres was sublime.
