England U18 37-20 Wales U18
ON a perfect afternoon last Sunday at Veritas Park, an excited crowd of over 1200 rugby enthusiasts watched the England U18's defeat the Wales U18's 37-20 in as vibrant a demonstration of rugby football as you would wish to see, writes Dick Macey.
The warm sun shone from a cloudless sky, the pitch was in perfect condition and Taunton RFC pushed all the buttons available to them to ensure that the whole focus was on the young lads from their respective national Under18's squads and their ability to display their considerable talents.
The score line might appear to flatter the English side but the reality was that this was far from the case.
After a muscle-flexing first 15 minutes England put the first score on the board with a try wide out by their impressive winger, Mason Greenwood, converted by the equally impressive outside half, Sam Worsley, and went further ahead shortly afterwards when No8, Arthur Green touched down following an English drive and maul.
A third try for the all-whites was scored by man of the match scrum half, Charlie Bracken, with two penalty goals from the Welsh putting the half time score at 19-6.
The Welsh lads went up a gear in the second session and scored two converted tries but they found it difficult to contain the busy English pack who throughout the game were setting up running opportunities for their backs resulting in two more tries, one by full back, Ethan Clark, and the other by James Lucas, both converted by Worsley who added two penalty goals to his tally of 14points.
On reflection this excellent shop window of the growing talent from both teams provided a fine example of what we can look forward to in upcoming 6Nations tournaments.
The whole success of the victorious English team came from the competent spring board set up by their two half backs, Bracken (son of full English International Kieron) at scrum half and Worsley at out half, both of whom delivered quality passes throughout the game and which provided the constant threat the Welsh ultimately found difficult to contain.
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