Aaron Morris in action

England Under 20 26 Scotland Under 20 11

ENGLAND Under 20’s hopes of winning the Six Nations are very much alive after a 26-11 win against Scotland at Darlington Mowden Park’s Northern Echo Arena. They face France in next week’s final game at Brighton & Hove Albion’s Amex Stadium.

Tries from James Mitchell, Paul Hill and James Chisholm put England in the driving seat while Rory Jennings added 11 points with his boot.

After a cagey opening in which both sides exchanged penalties, England moved up a gear and Mitchell capitalised on a Scottish overthrow at the lineout to jump over the forwards to score.

The second try came from a well-weighted cross-field kick from Jennings that was gathered and touched down by prop Hill.

With England in the ascendancy they opted for the corner instead of the posts and the forwards drove over for Chisholm to dot down at the base for 26-6 at the break.

England struggled to get going in the second half and failed to trouble the scoreboard. Howard Packman went close on a couple of occasions but wasn’t able to convert. Scotland did go over in the corner through Ben Robbins to make it 26-11 which is how it stayed.

Head Coach Jon Callard said: “It was very much a game of two halves. I felt like we did very well in the first 40, we pinned Scotland back and scored some nice tries. But credit to them, they came back at us in the second and caused us problems.

“We come away from the game a little disappointed – of course it’s great to get the win, but we always want to put in a good performance and I think we left a bit out there today. But we get together on Monday and will prepare for what will be a huge game against France in Brighton.”

BMW man of the match Chisholm added: “We’re pleased to get the win but massive credit to Scotland, they came at us and gave it a real go. They’ve got some talented players in their side and caused us problems. We didn’t really get going in the second half, so we’ll look to address that next week.”

Points:
England: Rory Jennings 3P, 1C; James Mitchell 1T, Paul Hill 1T, James Chisholm 1T
Scotland: George Horne 2P; Ben Robbins 1T

England Under 20 vs Scotland 

15 Aaron Morris (Saracens)
14 George Perkins (Saracens)
13 Joe Marchant (Harlequins)
12 Nick Tompkins (Saracens)
11 Howard Packman (Northampton Saints)
10 Rory Jennings (Bath Rugby)
9 James Mitchell (Sale Sharks)

1 Seb Adeniran-Olule (Harlequins)
2 Jack Walker (Yorkshire Carnegie)
3 Paul Hill (Yorkshire Carnegie)
4 Kieran Treadwell (Harlequins)
5 Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, captain)
6 Sam Skinner (Exeter Chiefs)
7 Will Owen (Leicester Tigers)
8 James Chisholm (Harlequins)

Replacements: 

16 Jack Innard (Exeter Chiefs) on for Jack Walker 53 mins
17 Owen Hills (Leicester Tigers) on for Seb Adeniran-Olule 65 mins
18 Ciaran Parker (Sale Sharks) on for Paul Hill 68 mins
19 Joe Batley (Gloucester Rugby) on for Kieran Treadwell 68 mins
20 Charlie Beckett (Leicester Tigers) on for Sam Skinner 53 mins
21 Stuart Townsend (Exeter Chiefs) on for James Mitchell 65 mins
22 Tom Fowlie (London Irish) on for Nick Tompkins 56 mins
23 Piers O’Conor (Wasps Rugby) on for Aaron Morris 53 mins

England U20 Six Nations fixtures 

Wales U20 21-15 England U20
Eirias Park, Colwyn Bay
7 February

England U20 61-0 Italy U20
The Brickfields, Plymouth
13 February

Ireland U20 14-19 England U20
Donnybrook Stadium, Dublin
27 February

England U20 26-11 Scotland U20
Darlington Mowden Park, Darlington
13 March

England U20 v France U20
American Express Community Stadium, Brighton
20 March, kick-off 7.55pm
Live on Sky Sports