U20: Welsh Grand Slam Beckons

Their last hurdle is Italy. Wales have won all their matches; Italy have lost all of theirs. It's hard to see Wales losing.

If, by some Herculean effort, Italy beat Wales while France beat the poor England side, France would take the championship because they have a considerably better points difference after four matches.

If Wales were to win the Grand Slam, it would be their first at Under-20 level.

Italy did well against Ireland in Ireland, but not quite enough to avoid what looks like a certain wooden spoon.

Results after Four Rounds

Round 1 Results:

Scotland 24-6 England

Wales 35-24 Ireland

France 40-3 Italy

Round 2 Results:

Wales 18-15 Scotland

France 34-13 Ireland

England 42-7 Italy

Round 3 Results:

Wales 16-10 France

Ireland 26-20 England

Scotland 24-14 Italy

Round 4 Results:

Wales 42-16 England

France 36-21 Scotland

Ireland 19-13 Italy

Wales 42-16 England

(Ashton Gate, Bristol)

This is the first time that Wales have beaten England in England at Under-20. Against England. A record win. In England.

For England, the 2015 Champions, this has been a hard thump to earth with just one victory to their names.

Wales scored six tries to England's one, and the other 11 points came from the boot of Mat Protheroe, a Welshman!

England took the lead through a penalty after two minutes but the promise of an unlikely victory was soon destroyed as the Welsh pack took over and the visitors scored four tries to lead 28-3. Just before half-time England mauled a five-metre line-out over the Welsh line for a try credited to Sam Smith. At the break Wales led 28-10.

Early in the second half, Protheroe kicked two penalty goals. 28-16. But then Wales added two more tries.

In all they scored six tries, every one converted by Dan Jones.

Scorers

For England:

Try: Smith

Con: Protheroe

Pens: Protheroe 3

For Wales:

Tries: Giles 2, Evans, Millard, Jones, Keddie

Cons: Jones 6

Teams:

England: 15 Max Malins, 14 George Perkins, 13 Charlie Thacker, 12 George Worth, 11 Ollie Thorley, 10 Mathew Protheroe, 9 Max Green, 8 Callum Chick (captain), 7 Sam Smith, 6 George Nott, 5 Andrew Kitchen, 4 Huw Taylor, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Jack Singleton, 1 Lewis Boyce.

Replacements: 16 Curtis Langdon, 17 Tom West, 18 Billy Keast, 19 Alex Moon, 20 Zach Mercer, 21 Calum Waters, 22 Joe Simmonds, 23 Paolo Odogwu.

Wales: 15 Rhun Williams, 14 George Gasson, 13 Harri Millard, 12 Owen Watkin, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Daniel Jones, 9 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 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 Rhys Fawcett, 18 Leon Brown, 19 Bryce Morgan, 20 Morgan Sieniawski, 21 Declan Smith, 22 Billy McBryde, 23 Joe Thomas.

Referee: Andy Brace (Ireland)

Assistant referees: David Wilkinson (Ireland), Stuart Douglas (Ireland)

TMO: Seamus Flannery (Ireland)

Ireland 19-13 Italy

(Donnybrook Stadium, Ireland)

At half-time Italy led 13-6, having scored the only try of the match.

Italy attacked first but Ireland scored first. The Irish were leading 6-3. Then Italy bashed at the line and flank Giovanni Pettinelli burst through the defence for the try. Leonardo Mantelli added a penalty before the break.

Two more penalties by fullback Brett Connon brought the home side to within a point and it was outside centre Shane Daly who scored the try that won the match, as Italy failed to score in the second half.

Scorers

For Ireland:

Try: Daly

Con: Connon

Pens: Connon 4

For Italy:

Try: Pettinelli

Con: Mantelli

Pens: Mantelli 2

Teams:

Ireland: 15 Brett Connon, 14 Hugo Keenan, 13 Shane Daly, 12 Conor O'Brien, 11 Conor O'Brien, 10 Johnny McPhillips, 9 Stephen Kerins, 8 Greg Jones, 7 Will Connors,  6 Cillian Gallagher, 5 James Ryan (captain), 4 Peter Claffey, 3 Conán O'Donnell, 2 Adam McBurney, 1 Andrew Porter.

Replacements: 16 Hugo Kean, 17 James Bollard, 18 Ben Betts, 19 Sean O'Connor, 20 Max Deegan, 21 Paul Kiernan, 22 Terry Kennedy.

Italy: 15 Matteo Minozzi, 14 Pierre Bruno, 13 Roberto Dal Zilio, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Luca Sperandio, 10 Leonardo Mantelli, 9 Vincenzo Charly Ernest Trussardi, 8 Gabriele Venditti, 7 Davide Ciotoli, 6 Giovanni Pettinelli, 5 Samuele Ortis, 4 Leonard Krumov, 3 Marco Riccioni (captain), 2 Marco Manfredi, 1 Daniele Rimpelli.

Replacements: 16 Nicolò Broglia, 17 Giovanni Amendola, 18 Giosuè Zilocchi, 19 Lorenzo Robin Masselli, 20 Michael De Marco, 21 Giovanni Lucchin, 22 Marcello Angelini, 23  Lorenzo Masato.

Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)

Assistant referees: Gary Glennon (Scotland), Dermot Blake (Scotland)

Scotland 36-21 France

(Broadwood Stadium, Cumbernauld)

It was a disappointing result for Scotland who had started their campaign with that historic win over England and then stood up so well to the Welsh who needed a last-mute penalty to beat them. The size of this home defeat came as a surprise, especially as the Scots looked to have their strongest side while France had lost three of their backs.

At 14-17 down, Scotland were in the game at the break but then France pulled away.

A penalty try after four minutes got France on the scoreboard as the Scots collapsed a driving maul from a five-metre line-out. But two penalty goals pulled Scotland up to 7-6 and then they actually took the lead when right wing Ben Robbins scored a try.

But the French were back on top via a penalty and then a try by right wing Martin Laveau late in the half. A penalty from 50 metres out completed the scoring in the half.

France scored a try early in the second half but then lock Mathieu Tanguy was sent to the sin bin. Scottish flyhalf Adam Hastings eschewed a kick at goal and went for the line-out instead.

Scotland mauled and Matt Smith got the touchdown. 24-21. But France were not to be denied. With 10 minutes to play flank Judicaël Cancoriet charged down a kick and scored and Anthony Belleau, on the stroke of full time, for a comfortable victory.

Scorers

For Scotland:

Tries: Robbins, Smith

Con: Hastings

Pens: Hastings 3

For France:

Tries: Penalty try, Laveau, Penaud, Cancoriet, Belleau

Cons: Belleau 4

Pen: Belleau

Teams:

Scotland: 15 Ruairi Howarth, 14 Ben Robbins, 13 Rory Hutchinson, 12 Tom Galbraith, 11 Darcy Graham,  10  Adam Hastings, 9 Hugh Fraser, 8  Ally Miller, 7 Matt Smith, 6 Andrew Davidson, 5 Scott Cummings (captain), 4 Callum Hunter-Hill, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Jake Kerr, 1 Murray McCallum.

Replacements: 16 Lewis Anderson, 17 George Thornton, 18 Callum Sheldon, 19 Stephen Ainslie, 20 Scott Burnside, 21 Ruaridh Dawson, 22  George Taylor, 23 Robbie Nairn.

France: 15 Romain Buros, 14 Martin Laveau, 13 Atila Septar, 12 Damien Penaud, 11 Alexandre Pilati, 10 Anthony Belleau, 9 Antoine Dupont, 8 Alexandre Roumat, 7 Judicaël Cancoriet, 6 Matthieu Voisin, 5 Mathieu Tanguy, 4 Florian Verhaegue, 3  Emerick Setiano, 2 Etienne Fourcade, 1 Clément Castets (captain).

Replacements : 16 Quentin Walcker, 17 Beato Mauvaka, 18 Michael Simutoga, 19 Baptiste Pesenti, 20 Anthony Jelonch, 21 Baptiste Couilloud, 22 Romuald Seguy, 23 Pierre Mignot  .

Referee: Tom Foley (England)