ENGLAND Under 20s put in an excellent display of attacking rugby against Wales to win 67-7 – a performance described as “not far off perfect” by Head Coach Nick Walshe.

Flanker Gus Jones led the scoring charts with four of England’s ten, as hooker Harry Thacker contributed two while No. 9 Henry Taylor, wing Zach Kibirige, prop Alex Lundberg and captain Maro Itoje all scored one apiece. Billy Burns added fifteen points with the boot, and Sam Olver two.

The hosts made the perfect start at Kingston Park and earned a penalty from the kick-off which Burns duly converted.

The first try came courtesy of some great forwards play as No. 8 Joel Conlon found prop Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi who spun one to Taylor to dive over for his first England try. Burns’ conversion made it 10-0 to put England in the driving seat.

England’s second try was another one made by the forwards – Conlon made a strong burst and his pass found Jones who made a dart for the line, but Thacker was on hand to burrow over.

The third try – just three minutes later – was another one to savour for the pack. A line-out deep in the Welsh 22 was converted by Jones via a rolling maul. Burns’ extras made it 24-0 with 30 on the clock.

Thacker and Jones both had their second tries before the half was out to put England well in control with the scoreboard showing 38-0.

The hosts started the second half in a similar vein and wing Kibirige, on his home patch, scored a sensation solo try before Jones notched his third and fourth scores in quick succession.

Replacement prop Lundberg bulldozed his way over in the corner for England’s ninth try of the night before captain Maro Itoje made it four tries in four games to make it 67-0 after Sam Olver’s conversion.

Wales had a consolation try late on when they were awarded a penalty try after Howard Packman was deemed to have denied Wales from scoring.

Walshe said: “It was an excellent performance from the guys, and not too far off perfect – particularly in terms of the way we transferred what we have done on the training ground onto the pitch.

“I can’t fault any of the guys for effort, and while there is of course still much to work on, it was a great display from 1 all the way to 23. The Championship is still out of our hands but all we can do is perform as well as we can.”

Captain Maro Itoke added: “It was an easy job captaining the guys – the team is full of leaders, and although it was tough to lose Callum Braley close to kick-off, I thought that the guys performed amazingly well tonight. The job now is to focus all of our attentions to Italy and make sure we back up this win with another strong performance over there.”

Points: Taylor 1T, Thacker 2T, Jones 4T, Kibirige 1T, Lundberg 1T, Itoje1T; Burns 1P, 6C, Olver 1C

England U20 starting XV against Wales

15 Howard Packman (Northampton Saints)
14 Zach Kibirige (Newcastle Falcons)
13 Nick Tompkins (Saracens)
12 Harry Sloan (Harlequins)
11 Henry Purdy (Leicester Tigers)
10 Billy Burns (Gloucester Rugby)
9 Henry Taylor (Loughborough University)

1 Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi (Northampton Saints)
2 Harry Thacker (Leicester Tigers)
3 Scott Wilson (Newcastle Falcons)
4 Maro Itoje (Saracens, captain)
5 Tom Ellis (Bath Rugby)
6 Ross Moriarty (Gloucester Rugby)
7 Gus Jones (London Wasps)
8 Joel Conlon (Exeter Chiefs)

Replacements:

16 Tom Woolstencroft (Bath Rugby) on for Harry Thacker 52 mins
17 Alex Lundberg (London Wasps) on for Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi 62 mins
18 Paul Hill (Leeds Carnegie) on for Scott Wilson 62 mins
19 Jonny Hill (Gloucester Rugby) on for Tom Ellis 68 mins
20 Hayden Thompson Stringer (Saracens) on for Ross Moriarty 60 mins
21 Stuart Townsend (Exeter Chiefs) on for Henry Taylor 58 mins
22 Sam Olver (Northampton Saints) on for Billy Burns 54 mins
23 Aaron Morris (Bedford Blues) on for Henry Purdy 60 mins

Photo supplied by RFU