Scotland caused the upset of the opening weekend by beating England for the first time in Cumbernauld, scoring four tries in a 24-6 victory of over the defending U20 Six Nations champions.
In the other matches on Friday, France proved too strong for Italy in Nevers with a 40-3 win and Wales overcame a slow start to beat their hosts and World Rugby U20 Championship 2016 opponents Ireland 35-24 in Dublin.
Scotland’s 11 previous meetings with England had all ended in defeat but tries from full-back and man of the match Blair Kinghorn and prop Murray McCallum gave them a 12-6 half-time lead.
England captain Jack Walker – in line to play in his third World Rugby U20 Championship in June – was sin-binned just before the break and Scotland made the most of their advantage when play resumed, scoring 12 unanswered points through tries by forwards Scott Cummings and Matt Smith.
“As soon as that final whistle went I couldn't believe it and didn't really know what to do with myself,” admitted Scotland captain Cummings, whose side will face England again in the world championship this June.
“This was a great start for us. A lot of the time Scotland comes into these games thinking that maybe we can't do it, but we had a great attitude today. We are a very strong team and obviously with the win being against England for the first time ever makes it even better as well.”
France top the table
One positive for England, who reached the World Rugby U20 Championship final last year and will host the 2016 edition in Manchester, on a disappointing night was the scrum, but coach Jon Callard will not panic as they were in the same position in 2015 after a first-round loss to Wales.
“I’ve got great belief in this young group of players. England have been in this situation before and bounced back and now we need to see this as an opportunity to do that again. We need to dust ourselves off, regroup and move forwards into the rest of the Championship.”
It is 2015 runners-up France, though, that head the table after the opening round on the back of their six-try win over Italy at Stade Pre-Fleuri.
Italy had actually opened the scoring with an early penalty, but number eight Anthony Jelonch powered through a stretched defence to give France a lead they never surrendered. Italy saw two players sin-binned and France pounced through Florian Verhaege and captain Clément Castets.
The pick of the tries came from Damian Penaud – the son of former France international Alain – who was on hand to collect the ball from flyer Gabriel Ngandebe after he burst through the defence on the stroke of half-time.
France were in complete control but it took them until past the hour mark to score their fifth try as Italy tightened up their defence, replacement hooker Beato Mauvaka crossing the try-line before Pierre Mignot scored Les Bleuets final try of the night.
Boost for Wales
Wales once again came out on top against Ireland – just as they had done in last year’s World Rugby U20 Championship – with tries either side of half-time killing off any hopes of an Irish comeback at Donnybrook.
Ireland had delighted the home crowd with a Johnny McPhillips penalty and try by flanker Cillian Gallagher in the opening four minutes, but Wales’ response was tries from hooker Dafydd Hughes and Adam Beard to lead 20-14 at the break.
That lead grew to 11 points after Dan Jones’ early try in the second half and while Ireland did close it briefly through Kelvin Brown’s score, Wales’ made certain of victory when Harri Millard dotted down despite some desperate tackling from the home side.
The loss of Beard to the sin-bin in the final 10 minutes after repeated Welsh infringements gave Ireland brief hope but they were could only score a late consolation score through Shane Daly.
In round two next Friday, Ireland will travel to France to face the table toppers, while Italy host their World Rugby U20 Championship Pool B opponents England and Wales come face to face with Scotland.
Photo credit: Scottish Rugby / SNS Group
