U18: England end unbeaten
Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:08
England Under-18 ended their tour of Argentina with a 48-20 victory over Argentina in Buenos Aires on Sunday.
It has been a most impressive five--match tour.
Tour Results
England vs Tucumán, 40-24
England vs Buenos Aires, 39-19
England vs Mendoza, 107-3
England vs Uruguay, 94-7
England vs Argentina, 48-20
John Fletcher, their delighted coach said after Sunday's victory: “I'm delighted with the performance and the result on Sunday. To score eight tries in a test match speaks volumes for the quality of this squad.
“We have proved we are capable of scoring tries from deep positions with good ball carrying skills, and we have players who can make good decisions on the ball as well as boast having pace throughout the team."
Alex Gray, the tour captain, said: “We have had a fantastic trip to Argentina which was rounded off with a good victory over the Pumitas. The rugby in Argentina has been very physical and we have all learnt a lot from our experiences”.
In the final match, England scored eight tries, of which wing Will Hurrell scored a hat-trick.
After just 19 minutes of the first half, England led 19-0. There was going to be only one winner.
First prop James Currie scored from a line-out maul. Then lock Jamie Gibson charged down a clearing kick to score. Freddie Burns converted both and then, from the restart, England came racing back and Hurrell scored his first after a 40-metre run by Gray.
After Bautista Güemes of the Pumitas had kicked a penalty goal some great hand-to-hand passing ended when Marcus Watson scored a try.
for Argentina centre Federico Haustein intercepted and scored to make the half-time score 24-8.
Early in the second half Hurrell got his second try after a break by fly-half Rory Clegg and then a line-out maul produced a try for Gray.
England, however, restarted in fine form and when Burns made a good break to set-up Hurrell for his second try, shortly followed by another good line-out catch and drive which saw Gray drive through the middle of a driving maul to score.
Argentina got their second try through Federico Buioli, converted by Valentín Cruz and then Tom Catterick was put clear and scored in the corner to make the score 41-15.
A break by speedy centre Owen Farrell created a third try for Hurrell before Argentina ended the scoring.
Argentina refused to give up though and finished strongly for Federico Zapata to score their third try, making the final score 48-20.
Scorers:
For England:
Tries: Currie, Gibson, Hurrell 3, Watson, Gray, Catterick
Cons: Burns 3, Clegg
For Argentina
Tries: Haustein, Ruiolo, Zapatu
Con: Cruz
Pen: Guemes
Teams:
Argentina: 15 Ramiro Moyano, 14 Federico López Pujato, 13 Brian Ormson, 12 Federico Haustein, 11 Agustín De Marchi, 10 Bautista Güemes, 9 Juan Manuel Lezcano, 8 Juan Pablo Álvarez, 7 Alan Kessen, 6 Mateo Olivari (captain), 5 Lucas Ponce, 4 Tomás Guzmán, 3 Juan Mercapide, 2 Tomás Baravalle, 1 Alexis Barone.
Replacements: Damián Arias, Federico Zapata, Rodrigo Ferro, Federico Buioli, Federico Miranda, Valentín Cruz, Juan Pablo Joya.
England: 15 Tom Catterick, 14 Marcus Watson, 13 Andy Forsyth, 12 Freddie Burns, 11 Will Hurrell, 10 Rory Clegg, 9 Jordi Pasqualin, 8 Alex Gray (captain), 7 Jacob Rowan, 6 Will Welch, 5 James Gaskell, 4 Jamie Gibson, 3 James Currie, 2 Jamie George, 1 Joe Marler
Replacements: 16 David Blackwell, 17 Lee Imiolek, 18 Mako Vunipola, 19 Tom
Holmes, 20 Sam Jones, 21 Joe Barker, 22 Sam Harrison, 23 Owen Farrell, 24 Christian Wade, 25 Sam Edgereley, 26 Jack Wallace
Referee: Santiago Slinger (Uruguay)
Touch judges: Gustavo Gerbasi (Uruguay), Marcelo Piñeyro (Uruguay)
