England won their fourth RBS Six Nations U20 title in five years after another brilliant display from teenage centre Joe Marchant inspired them to a 24-11 victory over France in Friday night’s title-decider at the Community Stadium in Brighton.

Both sides played a full part in an entertaining game that ebbed and flowed with France deservedly leading 11-6 at half-time before reigning World Rugby U20 champions England responded in style with a dominant second-half performance.

Two tries in the final quarter from Marchant and George Perkins as well as 14 points from the metronomic boot of Rory Jennings saw England reclaim the Six Nations crown they’d lost to France the previous year.

The victory also sets them up nicely for the World Rugby U20 Championship meeting between the two nations in Viadana on 10 June.

Sussex-born number 8 James Chisholm turned in a man-of-the-match display, and was understandably delighted to win the Six Nations trophy at a venue he regularly frequents as a Brighton & Hove Albion fan. 

“It’s an amazing feeling to pull through, and to do it in front of such a good crowd and on such a good ground,” he said. It was tough in the first half and 20 minutes into the second half but we knew it would come and we just kept knocking on the door, it doesn’t get any better than this.“

Jennings and Thomas Ramos kicked two penalties apiece in a try-less first quarter. But Les Bleuets thought they’d broken the deadlock on 28 minutes when loose-head prop Thibault Estorge barged over from close range. However closer inspection from TMO Derek Bevan showed there had been a minor knock-on in the build-up play from flanker Luca Bachelier. 

France kept knocking on the door though and, after turning down a kickable penalty after the half-hour mark, number 8 Fabien Sanconnie rumbled over from a lineout catch-and-drive move

Ramos missed for the first time in this year's Championship with the conversion and the two sides went in at the break with France 11-6 ahead and looking good for a first win in England at this level since 2009.

England came flying out of the blocks at the start of the second half, Marchant’s scything run forcing France to infringe. Jennings made no mistake with the three-point and shortly afterwards he added another when a French player was penalised for handling a dropped up-and-under in an offside position. 

French heads dropped further when, on 64 minutes, Marchant produced another piece of magic. Replacement Stuart Townsend charged down Alexandre Pilati’s clearance kick and when the ball bounced up the Harlequins player pirouetted beautifully to collect it in the air and then showed deft footwork on landing to dot down in the tightest of spaces.

Leading 17-11 and with a dominant scrum, England had all the impetus as the match approached the final quarter. The offloading game that they’d shown in glimpses throughout the tournament came to the fore, and good hands from Bath duo Charlie Ewels and Jennings put Perkins under the posts for England’s second try, which was converted.

Any faint hopes France had of coming back into the match ended when the unmarked Alexandre Gracbling mishandled a wild pass from centre Eliott Roudil metres from the English line.

Forward power drives Scots on

Scotland put last season’s dispiriting whitewash behind them with a 17-10 victory over Ireland.

Although both teams were out of contention for Six Nations silverware, third place – and bragging rights ahead of their World Rugby U20 Championship meeting in June – were on the line at the Broadwood Stadium.

Scotland had only ever beaten Ireland twice in 11 previous attempts at this level, but the confidence gained from wins over Wales and Italy shone through in a bright opening spell.

Sean Lineen’s side took the lead when Magnus Bradbury, standing in as captain in the absence of the injured Jamie Ritchie, grounded the ball after a powerful Scottish maul. George Horne added the extras for a 7-0 lead. Lewis Carmichael then scored a carbon copy of the first try as the Scots went 12-0 up.

Ross Byrne’s penalty gave Ireland a foothold in the contest and the home side’s lead was reduced further when dangerous winger Stephen Fitzgerald crossed in the corner on 32 minutes after the ball had gone through several pairs of hands. 

The tournament’s top point-scorer, Byrne, added the extras with his boot to take his overall tally to 55, and his team to within two points of Scotland as the half-time whistle blew.

Ireland carried on where they left off after the re-start but the Scottish defence withstood the barrage thrown at them. Carmichael sealed victory with his seocnd try, again from a lineout catch-and-drive.

“We scored three great line-out drive tries and it could have been a lot more, but I’m really impressed with the guys because they never gave up,” said Scotland coach Lineen.

“We showed fantastic team spirit and it’s great for the guys to get a deserved win against tough opposition.”

Italy denied at the death

Having lost all four of their previous matches by 30 points or more, Italy started their concluding Six Nations U20 match against Wales as major underdogs. However, the World Rugby U20 Championship 2015 hosts turned in their best performance of the championship to give the visitors a real scare at the Stadio Quercia in Rovereto before losing 23-21.

Leading 21-16 with only four minutes to go, Italy were within sight of a first win over Wales in 10 attempts. But Scottish referee Lloyd Linton was left with no choice but to award a penalty try to Wales after the Italians, who’d been reduced to 13 men following two yellow cards, collapsed a series of scrums near their own line.

Replacement fly-half Dan Jones converted with the last act of the match to seal what Wales coach Richard Hodges agreed was a fortuitous win.

“We can’t get away from the fact that we haven’t played well on the road all tournament. We had two good home wins against England and Ireland and the character came through in the end to get a win. But we’re not going to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes, we were a bit fortunate tonight,” Hodges said.

After falling seven points behind in the second minute, Wales were 10-7 ahead at the break thanks to a try from the outstanding Ollie Griffiths and one in the opposite corner try from left wing Rhys Williams.

Matteo Minozzi’s drop goal levelled matters before a well-worked lineout move earned replacement prop Dino Dallavalle a try in the corner.

Jones kicked two penalties but was then sent to the sin-bin on 67 minutes for taking out Lorenzo Masato in the air. Minozzi made no mistake with the resulting penalty to reclaim the lead and added another to open up a five-point gap, but Italian hopes of a first victory of the season collapsed in a heap at the end.

Reflecting on his side’s fourth place finish in this year’s U20 Six Nations, Hodges said:  “Overall it’s work in progress. We go into the World Cup now with England, France and Japan in our pool and we know that on our day we can win all three games. We’ve got a good bunch of positive boys and we’ll rock up here for the World Cup in June and give it a good shot."