U20 6N: England, Ireland head for decider

Ireland's thrilling win over France in Donnybrook ensured this while England, as expected, hammered Italy in Darlington.

Results

Round 3

England vs Italy, 46-0

Ireland vs France, 27-22

Wales vs Scotland, 65-34

Round 1

Ireland vs Scotland, 20-19

England vs France, 59-17

Wales vs Italy, 27-5

Round 2

Ireland vs Italy, 27-26

England vs Wales, 37-21

France vs Scotland, 36-8

Log after Three Rounds

Bonus points are making a difference all right. England have one from each of their matches, Ireland have none.

1. England – 15 pts

2. Ireland – 12 pts

3. Wales – 9 pts

4. France – 6 pts

5. Italy – 1 pt

6. Scotland – 1 pt

England vs Italy

There is nothing suprising in  England's big, eight-try, bonus-point win over Italy at Northern Echo Arena up in cold, miserable Darlington. After all England won World Rugby's World Under-20 Championship recently. At half-time, after three tries, England led 17-0.

In the second half, with over six thousand brave spectators to cheer them on, England scored five tries with two each to Josh Bayliss and Tom Parton.

England have now scored 21 tries in three matches with weak Scotland to follow and then the decider in Ireland.

It started up front, for the England pack was much too strong for the Italians and out back England's speed and strength were too much.

It took both sides a while to get used to the pitch in Darlington but England's forward soon got to grips with the game and their power proved too much for Italy. Two yellow cards made Italy even weaker.

Scorers

For England:

Tries: Blamire, Curry, Mercer, Aspland-Robinson, Bayliss 2, Parton 2

Cons: Umaga 2, Smith

Teams

England: 15 Tom Parton, 14 Sam Aspland-Robinson, 13 Dominic Morris, 12 Max Wright, 11 Gabriel Ibitoye, 10 Jacob Umaga, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Zach Mercer (captain), 7 Ben Curry, 6 Jack Nay, 5 Nick Isiekwe, 4 Josh Caulfield, 3 Ciaran Knight,  2 Jamie Blamire, 1 Ollie Dawe

Replacements: 16 Henry Walker, 17 Alex Seville, 18 Marcus Street, 19 Max Davies, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 Rory Brand, 22 Marcus Smith, 23 Joe Cokanasiga

Italy: 15 Massimo Cioffi, 14 Andrea Bronzini, 13 Ludovico Vaccari, 12 Marco Zanon (captain), 11 Giovanni D'Onofrio, 10 Antonio Rizzi, 9 Charly Trussardi, 8 Giovanni Licata, 7 Lorenzo Masselli, 6 Jacopo Bianchi, 5 Gabriele Venditti, 4 Giordano Baldino, 3 Giosuè Zilocchi, 2 Massimo Ceciliani, 1 Daniele Rimpelli

Replacements: 16 Alberto Rollero, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Michele Mancini Parri, 19 Edoardo Iachizzi, 20 Nardo Casolari, 21 Emilio Fusco, 22 Michelangelo Biondelli, 23 Roberto dal Zilio

Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)

Assistant referees: Mike Adamson (Scotland), Finlay Brown (Scotland)

Television match official: Jim Yuille (Scotland)

Assessor: Michael Carroll (Ireland)

Ireland vs France

Ireland maintained their unbeaten record in this year's Six Nations with their most comfortable win so far. After all, a five-point victory is more comfortable than the two one-pointers.

Ireland led 21-10 at half  time in this high-tempo match and it was their grit that won through in the end as they lost the second half 12-6.

Ireland scored three tries in the first half, none in the second. France scored one in the first half and two, including a penalty try, in the second.

Down 21-3 and then, in the second half, 24-0 France fought their way back to 24-22 before Bill Johnston goaled his second penalty with six minutes to play.

Scorers:

For Ireland:

Tries: McElroy, O'Brien, Dowling

Cons: Johnston 3

Pens: Johnston 2

For France:

Tries: Fortass 2, penalty try

Cons: Ntamack 2

Pen: Ntamack

Teams

Ireland: 15 Rob Lyttle, 14 Jordan Larmour, 13 Tommy O'Brien, 12 Ciaran Frawley, 11 Calvin Nash (captain), 10 Bill Johnston, 9 Jonny Stewart, 8 Caelan Doris, 7 l Boyle, 6 Marcus Rea, 5 Oisin Dowling, 4 Jack Regan, 3 Charlie Connolly, 2 Tadgh McElroy, 1 Joey Conway

Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Rory Mulvihill, 18 Peter Cooper, 19 Gavin Coombes, 20 Sean Masterson, 21 Jack Lyons, 22 Conor Fitzgerald, 23  Alex McHenry.

France: 15 Romain Buros, 14 Faraj Fartass, 13 Pierre-Louis Barassi, 12 Théo Dachary, 11 William Iraguha, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Arthur Retière, 8 Alexandre Roumat, 7 Julien Ruaud, 6 Dylan Cretin, 5 Mickaël Capelli, 4 Florian Verhaeghe (captain), 3 Thomas Laclayat, 2 Etienne Fourcade, 1 Kévin Tougne

Replacements: 16 Léo Aouf, 17 Florian Dufour, 18 George-Henri Colombe, 19 Killian Geraci, 20 Baptiste Couilloud, 21 Cameron Woki, 22 Anthony Fuertes, 23 Théo Millet

Referee: Tom Foley (England)

Assistant Referees: Phil Watters (England), Hamish Smales (England)

Television match official: Stuart Terheege (England)

Wales vs Scotland

Up in cold Cumbernauld with rain dropping straight down and high heaps of snow on the touch lines, Wales and Scotland played a generous 99-point, 14-try match, Wales winning by 31 points, eight tries to six. For Wales it was the first time they had gone past 50 points in a Six Nations Under-20 match.

The two teams obviously decided that running was the best antidote to the cold.

Wales got off to a great start, surging 27-0 ahead before Scotland came back with two tries of their own to make it 27-12 at half-time.

That was 39 points for the half. There would be another 60 in the second half, but Wales led throughout.

Scorers:

For Wales:

Tries: Lewis, Baldwin, Kieran Williams 2, Rhys Williams, Carre, Botham, Morris

Cons: Ben Jones 8

Pens: Ben Jones 3

For Scotland:

Tries: Dodd, Renwick, Nairn 2, Hunter-Hill, Simmers

Cons: Josh Henderson 2

Teams

Scotland: 15 Stafford McDowall, 14 Ross McCann, 13 Craig Pringle, 12 Cameron Hutchison, 11 Darcy Graham, 10 Josh Henderson, 9 Charlie Shiel, 8 Tom Dodd, 7 Luke Crosbie, 6 Alex Craig, 5 Callum Hunter-Hill (captain), 4 Hamish Bain, 3 Adam Nicol, 2 Fraser Renwick, 1 Fergus Bradbury

Replacements: 16 Robbie Smith, 17 Daniel Winning, 18 George Thornton, 19 Bruce Flockhart, 20 Jamie Ure, 21 Andrew Simmers, 22 Cameron Hutchison, 23 Robbie Nairn

Wales: 15 Rhun Williams, 14 Corey Baldwin, 13 Cameron Lewis, 12 Kieran Williams, 11 Ryan Conbeer, 10 Ben Jones, 9 Dane Blacker, 8 Aled Ward, 7 Will Jones (captain), 6 James Botham, 5 Alex Dombrandt, 4 Sean Moore, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Corrie Tarrant, 1 Rhys Carre

Replacements: 16 Owen Hughes, 17 Steff Thomas, 18 Chris Coleman, 19 Max Williams, 20 Morgan Morris (Hartpury), 21 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 22 Arwel Robson, 23 Phil Jones

Referee: Thomas Charabas (France)

Assistant referees: Cédric Marchat (France), Sébastien Minery (France)

Television match official: Arnaud Blondel (France)

Timekeeper: John McLaughlin (Scotland)