England U20 Men seal Six Nations title with breathtaking victory in France
England U20 Men sealed the Six Nations title with a breathtaking 45-31 victory over France in Pau.
Mark Mapletoft’s men trailed 21-5 at one stage knowing they required a bonus-point victory to clinch the Championship ahead of Ireland but duly produced a performance befitting of champions in the second half.
England scored five tries after the break to stun their hosts, with James Isaacs, Ioan Jones, Henry Pollock, and Jimmy Halliwell all diving over in a half that will live long in the memory to secure a first Six Nations title since 2021.
A frantic start saw the French on the front foot from the off, with the home side powering through the phases inside 60 seconds but Ben Redshaw pounced on a loose ball inside his own 22 and raced the length of the pitch to score and give England a dream start.
France responded 10 minutes later, taking advantage of a loose ball of their own as Archie McParland’s pass failed to find a white shirt and was gobbled up by Theo Attissogbe, who offloaded superbly to Leon Darricarrere who set Mathis Ferté free to race away and score. Hugo Reus added the extras to nudge the hosts in front.
France then grabbed the ascendancy, taking full advantage of quick ball to push the England defence back and eventually release Kalvin Gourgues to score from close range.
The hosts then added a third immediately from kick-off, Attissogbe receiving a crossfield kick from Reus, before collecting his own kick to beat his defender and play in Ferté who released Carbonneau for a stunning team try. Reus added the conversion to put the lead out to 21-5.
But England were able to halt the French momentum heading towards half-time and got themselves back in the contest as James Isaac’s crossed the whitewash from the back of a rolling maul after Sean Kerr kicked superbly for the corner from a penalty to reduce the deficit to 21-12 at the break.
Much like the first-half, England made the perfect start after the interval as Isaacs burrowed over from close range for his second try of the evening and Kerr added two more to reduce the French lead to just two.
But France restored their nine-point lead just minutes later, a flowing move through the backs eventually created the gap for Mathis Castro to break through and score with Reus adding the extras.
Yet the breathless pace of this contest refused to dip and England scored their fourth and sealed their bonus point almost straight after, as Ioan Jones intercepted a pass and ran through to dive over.
France nudged themselves further in front thanks to a Reus penalty, leaving England a converted try from parity.
That is exactly what they got just two minutes later, McParland releasing Carnduff to break the line who played in Pollock to score under the posts, with Makepeace-Cubitt adding the extras to draw the scores level at 31-31.
England were now firmly on top and had the lead five minutes later through a penalty try. Excellent work in the corner from Oliver Spencer and Ben Waghorn turned the ball over on the French try line and earnt a penalty before the resulting maul was illegally halted by Thomas Duchene who was sent to the bin.
The numerical advantage then paid with 10 minutes to go, as another rolling maul marched England down the pitch and Isaacs slipped in Jimmy Halliwell to dive over under the posts.
France continued to push for a way back into the game, with Scott Kirk receiving a yellow card with two minutes remaining but the visitors held strong to see out victory and with it ensured the trophy would be returning to England.
France U20
15 Mathis Ferté, 14 Theo Attissogbe, 13 Leon Darricarrere, 12 Kalvin Gourgues, 11 Maxence Biasotto, 10 Hugo Reus, 9, Leo Carbonneau; 1 Lino Julien, 2 Barnabe Massa 3 Zaccharie Affane, 4 Hugo Descube, 5 Paolo Tuilagi, 6 Mathis Castro, 7 Joe Quere Karaba, 8 Marko Gazzotti
Replacements: 16 Robin Couly, 17 Zinedine Aouad, 18 Thomas Duchene, 19 Simon Huchet, 20 Sialevailea Tolofua, 21 Geoffrey Malaterre, 22 Thomas Souverbie, 23 Fabien Brau Boirie
Tries: Ferté 13', Gourgues 25', Carbonneau 27', Castro 46'
Conversions: Reus 14', 26', 28', 47'
Penalties: Reus 57'
England U20
15 Ioan Jones, 14 Toby Cousins, 13 Ben Waghorn, 12 Sean Ker, 11 Ben Redshaw, 10 George Makepeace-Cubitt, 9 Archie McParland; 1 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 2 James Isaacs, 3 Billy Sela, 4 Joe Bailey, 5 Junior Kpoku, 6 Finn Carnduff, 7 Henry Pollock, 8 Nathan Michelow
Replacements: 16 Jacob Oliver, 17 Scott Kirk, 18 Jimmy Halliwell, 19 Olamide Sodeke, 20 Kane James, 21 Ben Douglas, 22 Josh Bellamy, 23 Oliver Spencer
Tries: Redshaw 1', Isaacs 37', 43', Jones 48', Pollock 59', Halliwell 70'
Conversions: Kerr 38', 44', 70', Makepeace-Cubitt 60'
