Head Coach John Fletcher

ENGLAND have won their opening Under 18 European Championship match this afternoon with an emphatic victory over Portugal 85-5 in France.

The young England side scored an impressive 13 tries against their Portuguese opponents with right winger Gabriel Ibitoye (Harlequins, Trinity) blazing the way, touching down four times.

The bulk of the damage was done in the opening 40 minutes with England scoring eight unanswered tries as they went into the break with a significant 54 point lead.

Ibitoye picked up his hat trick try at the beginning of the second half before England piled on 17 points in six minutes with tries from Will Evans (Leicester Tigers, Wyggeston & QEI College), substitute Will Allman (Northampton Saints, Trent College) and Joe Craggs (Newcastle Falcons, Gosforth Academy).

Portugal scored an unconverted try to register their only points half way through the second spell but it was the in form England and Trinity winger who finished proceedings off with his fourth try with nine minutes remaining.

Head Coach John Fletcher said after the match: “We scored 13 tries which takes some doing against any side. The pitch was good and suited the way we wanted to play and we scored some good tries.

“It was pleasing from an attacking point of view we scored a variety and we kept on going. We went in at half time well up but we didn’t lose our focus too much in the second half.

“We kept trying to score so that was pleasing. We managed to get all 23 players some game time today and fortunately we didn’t pick up any injuries so we go into the next game with everybody fit and available.”

England will face hosts France on Tuesday after they beat Scotland 22-10 this evening.

In other games today, Italy beat Wales 14-13 while Georgia beat Ireland following a penalty goal shoot out after the scores were level 8-8 at full time.

England have won the European title the previous three seasons.

Points: Gabriel Ibitoye 4T, Charles Capps 1T, Zach Mercer 2T, Johnny McPhillips 1T, 10 Con, Sam Aspland-Robinson 1T, Curtis Langdon 1T, Will Evans 1T, Will Allman 1T, Joe Craggs 1T

England squad to v Portugal

15. Johnny McPhillips (Newcastle Falcons, Sedbergh School)
14. Gabriel Ibitoye (Harlequins, Trinity)
13. Max Wright (Yorkshire Carnegie, Prince Henry’s)
12. Max Malins (Saracens, Felsted)
11. Sam Aspland-Robinson (Harlequins, Wellington College)
10. Mark Dixon (Sale Sharks, Lymm HS)
9. Jack Maunder (Exeter Chiefs, Blundells School)
1. Ollie Dawe (Exeter Chiefs, Bicton College)
2. Curtis Langdon (London Irish, St Pauls Sunbury)
3. Charles Capps (Yorkshire Carnegie, Prince Henry’s)
4. Tim Cardall (Northampton Saints, Moulton College)
5. Josh Caulfield (Exeter Chiefs, Bicton College)
6. Joe Craggs (Newcastle Falcons, Gosforth Academy)
7. Will Evans (Leicester Tigers, Wyggeston & QEI College)
8. Zach Mercer (Bath Rugby, Merchiston Castle School)

Replacements (all used)

16. Dan Frost (Bath Rugby, Filton College)
17. Jake Pope (Sale Sharks, Myerscough College)
18. Jack Edmonson (Bath Rugby, Sherborne)
19. Nick Isiekwe (Saracens, Haileybury College)
20. Archie White (Harlequins, Epsom College)
21. Will Allman (Northampton Saints, Trent College)
22. Alex Mitchell (Sale Sharks, Lymm HS)
23. Theo Brophy Clews (London Irish, Abingdon School)

Tournament schedule:

Friday 27th March
England U18 85 v Portugal U18 5,  Montauban

Tuesday 31st March
England U18 v France U18 , kick off 6pm (UK time), Blagnac

Saturday 4th April
England U18 v TBC, kick off TBC, Toulouse