History Made in 6N U20

But records are there to be broken; history is there to be made.

England marched up to Glasgow the reigning champions who had never lost to Scotland at Under-20 level. They lost this time. In fact they were well beaten, 24-12, four tries to nil.

It was the big Under-20 surprise of the day, possibly the big Six Nations shock of the first weekend, though Italy were just a sad decision away from beating France in Pareis for the first time.

There were also comfortable victories in the other two matches as France beat Italy 40-3 at home and Wales beat Irleand 35-24 in Irleand.

Scotland vs England at Broadwood Stadium in Glasgopw on Friday, 5 February 2016. Scotland won 24-6

It was a suprise but then in 2015 Scotland beat Wales, Italy and Ireland at home.

In the first half Joe Simmonds kicked two penalty goals for England but Scotland scored two tries and led 12-6. Blair Kinghorn and Murray McCallum scored the tries with a conversion from Kinghorn. England had actually led 6-5 till just before half-time prop McCallum crashed over from close quarters.

Despite the power of theiur scrumming, England did not score in the second half but Scotland got another 12 points with tries by Scott Cummings and Matt Smith and another Kinghorn conversion.

Scotland's coach John Dalziel said: “Firstly, I’m really proud to watch a Scotland team defend like that for such large periods of the game, and to score four tries against a team like England, who have come off the back of three World Cup finals, is outstanding.

“We had a game plan that we stuck to and played some great rugby, and, despite the fact we had a bit of a tough time at the scrum sometimes, I thought we adapted well after half-time.

 “It’s a building block and we’ll continue building from now through to [the Junior World Championships] in June. We’ve got to take this group of players and keep improving them."

“We want to develop these guys and  start pushing them into the national team in the next few years; that’s our objective for the under-20s.”

Scorers:

For Scotland:

Tries: Kinghorn, McCallum, Cummings, Smith

Cons: Kinghorn 2

For England:

Pens: Simmonds 2

Scotland: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Rory Hutchinson, 12 Tom Galbraith, 11 Robbie Nairn,  10 Adam Hastings, 9 Hugh Fraser, 8  Ally Miller, 7 Matt Smith, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Scott Cummings ,  (captain), 4 Andrew Davidson, 3 Callum Sheldon, 2 Jake Kerr, 1 Murray McCallum

Replacements: 16 Lewis Anderson (Ayr), 17 Ben Christie, 18 Adam Nicol, 19 Callum Hunter-Hill, 20 Scott Burnside, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 George Taylor, 23 Ben Robbins

England: 15 Mathew Protheroe, 14 Ollie Thorley, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Charlie Thacker, 11 George Perkins, 10 Joe Simmonds, 9 Max Green, 8 Callum Chick, 7 Josh Bainbridge, 6 Archie White, 5 Stan South, 4 Huw Taylor, 3 William Stuart, 2 Jack Walker (captain), 1 Tom West

Replacements: 16 Jack Singleton, 17 Jake Pope (Sale Sharks), 18 Billy Keast, 19 Andrew Kitchener, 20 Zach Mercer, 21 Jamie Shillcock, 22 Sam Aspland-Robinson, 23 Taylor Prell

Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)

Assistant referees: Sean Gallagher (Ireland), Frank Murphy Frank (Ireland)

Television match official: Seamus Flannery  (Ireland)

Timekeeper: John McLaughlin (Scotland)

Ireland vs Wales at Donnybrook on Friday, 5 February 2016. Wales won 35-24.

Wales scored four tries to three and three conversions to none, and that gave them their 11-point victory in an exciting match on a cold, cold night.

Ireland scored first when 18-year-old flyhalf Johnny McPhillips goaled a penalty inside two minutes of the match and the teams took turns in scoring till just before half-time when Wales finally went ahead, leading 20-14 at the break.

Flank Cillian Gallagher scored a try for Ireland and hooker Dafydd Hughes a try for Wales but on the stroke of half-time great work by the Welsh forwards made lock Adam Beard's try which, with Dan Jones's conversion, put Wales into its lead.

At the start of the second half Dan Jones intercepted and scored a try. Kelvin Brown and, a minute before the end, cebtre Shane Daly scored tries for Ireland while centre Harri Millard got Wales's other try.

Scorers:

For Wales:

Tries: Dafydd Hughes, Adam Beard, Dan Jones, Harri Millard

Cons: Dan Jones 3

Pens: Dan Jones 3

For Ireland:

Tries: Cillian Gallagher, Kelvin Brown, Shane Daly

Pens: Johnny McPhillips 3

Teams

Ireland: 15 Jack Power, 14 Matthew Byrne, 13 Shane Daly, 12 Jimmy O'Brien, 11 Hugo Keenan, 10 Johnny McPhillips, 9 John Poland, 8 Max Deegan, 7 Will Connors, 6 Cillian Gallagher, 5 James Ryan (captain), 4 Peter Claffey, 3 Conan O'Donnell, 2 Adam McBurney, 1 Andrew Porter

Replacements: 16 Shane Fenton, 17 James Bollard, 18 Conor Kenny, 19 Sean O'Connor, 20 Kelvin Brown, 21 Stephen Kerins, 22 Brett Connon, 23 Conor O'Brien

Wales: 15 Rhun Williams, 14 Elis-Wyn Benham, 13 Harri Millard, 12 Owen Watkin, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Dan Jones, 9 Declan Smith, 8 Harrison Keddie, 7 Shaun Evans, 6 Tom Phillips (captain), 5 Adam Beard, 4 Shane Lewis-Hughes, 3 Dillon Lewis, 2 Dafydd Hughes, 1 Corey Domachowski

Replacements: 16 Ifan Phillips, 17 Robert Lewis, 18 Leon Brown, 19 Bryce Morgan, 20 Morgan Sieniawski, 21 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Joe Thomas

Referee: Thomas Charabas (France)

Assistant referees: Sébastien Minery (France), l-Henri Courbier (France)

Television match official: Vincent Azoulay (France)

Assessor: Gary Welsh (England)

France vs Italy at Stade Marcel-Verchère, Bourg-en-Bresse on Sunday, 6 February 2016. France won 40-3

Some 6 000 spectators braved the damp and cold to see Olivier Magne's France Under-20  start their campaign with a comfortable victory.

Early in the match flyhalf Leonardo Mantelli gave Italy a lead with a penalty goal but six minutes later France took the lead when No.8 Anthony  Jelonch scored a try which flyhalf Anthony Belleau converted and France gradually built on the lead with tries by captian Clément Castets, locl Fl;orian Verhaegue and centre Damien Penaud to lead 26-3 at half-time.

In the second half France scored just two more tries, one by prop Peato Mauvaka, who came to France from New Caladonia as a teemnager, and substitute Mignot, a score on the stroke of full time.

Scorers

For France:

Tries: Jelonch, Castets, Verhaegue, Penaud, Mauvaka, Mignot  

Cons Belleau 5

For Italy:

Pen: Mantelli

Teams

France: 15 Romain Buros, 14 Eliott Roudil, 13 Damien Penaud, 12 Atila Septar, 11 Gabriel NGandebe, 10 Anthony Belleau, 9 Christopher Kaiser, 8 Anthony Jelonch, 7 Jean-Baptiste Grenod, 6 Matthieu Voisin, 5 Mathieu Tanguy, 4 Florian Verhaegue, 3 Clément Castets (captain), 2 Etienne Fourcade

Replacements : 16 Elyes El Ansari, 17 Peato Mauvaka, 18 Michaël Simutoga, 19 Théo Hannoyer, 20 Judicaël Cancoriet 21, Baptiste Couilloud, 22 Alexandre Arrate, 23 Mignot

Italy: 15 Luca Sperandio, 14 Pierre Bruno, 13 Roberto Dal Zilio, 12 Dario Schiabel, 11 Lorenzo Masato, 10 Leonardo Mantelli (Femi-Cz Rovigo), 9 Vincenzo Trussardi, 8 Gabriele Venditti, 7 Giovanni Pettinelli, 6 Davide Fragnito (captain), 5 Leonard Krumov, 4 Vittorio Alberto Mantegazza, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Marco Manfredi, 1 Daniele Rimpelli

Replacements: 16 Engjel Makelara, 17 Damiano Borean, 18 Giosuè Zilocchi, Nicolò Ceccato, 19 Samuele Ortis, 20 Davide Ciotoli, 21 Matteo Maria Panunzi, 22 Peter Boris Mokom /Mihai Ciju, 23 Erik Dho

Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)

Assistant referees: Dai Cambourne (Wales), Stuart Kibble (Wales)

Television match official: l Adams (Wales)            

Assessor: Jim Fleming (Scotland)