Bailey in England U20 defeat, Lloyd's Wales overpowered

Monday, March 14th 2022

Deago Bailey was on the scoresheet but England U20 were beaten 42-27 by Ireland at StoneX Stadium in their fourth round Six Nations meet.

England got off to a rampant start, as George Hendy scored inside the opening five minutes.

Off the back of an attacking scrum, the full back entered the line at speed, and outside centre Jacob Cusick put him through a gap to dot down. Fly half Jamie Benson converted the effort, and moments later extended England's lead to 10-0 thanks to a successful penalty.

His Irish counterpart Charlie Tector nudged a penalty of his own to reduce the gap, and scrum half Matthew Devine capitalised on a quick turnover, sniping from close range to score under the sticks. Tector's extras levelled the game at 10-10.

The William Joseph + Deago Bailey combo is just 🤩#SixNationsU20 #ENGvIRE pic.twitter.com/A1w1mpgiHN
— Six Nations Under-20s (@SixNationsU20) March 12, 2022

A converted Lorcan McLoughlin try put the visitors into the lead on the 23-minute mark, but England captain Emeka Ilione struck back with one of his own, and Benson hit his seventh point to make it even again at the break, 17-17.

Ireland started the second half stronger than the hosts, and scored early, through prop Rory McGuire. Tector converted the effort, and landed a penalty moments later.

Undeterred, England hit back through a sublime solo score from Cassius Cleaves, making it 22-27. The visitors holding a slender lead.

But Ireland continued to impose themselves deep into the second half through two Aitzol King tries, and five points from the boot of Tector. Despite a late try courtesy of Deago Bailey, it was a consolation as Ireland ran out 42-27 winners.

Lloyd's Wales overpowered by France

Jac Lloyd's Wales Under 20s slipped to a 47-15 defeat to a powerful France Under 20s side in Colwyn Bay.

Byron Hayward’s side showed plenty of character but were ultimately undone by the class of France who have moved to the top of the Under 20s Six Nations table. Wales started well enough with Lloyd smashing over a penalty from 42 metres out.

But they made a costly error as they attempted to play the ball out of their own 22. The ball was turned over before it got put through French hands for Romain Fonnicola to touch down at the far right-hand corner.

Full back Leo Barre added the extras from the touchline, and France continued to apply pressure with hooker Connor Sa powering over from short range. Wales showed tremendous character to force themselves back into this game.

Lloyd gave Wales a good attacking platform by drilling the ball deep into the France 22 from a penalty. A clever move by Wales saw Ryan Woodman popping the ball down to Morgan Morse before Thomas Moukoro illegally collapsed the maul.

The referee awarded a penalty try to Wales, and Moukoro was sent to the sin bin. Wales capitalised on their man advantage when second row Benji Williams showed his strength to smash his way over the line for the hosts’ second try.

France were then temporarily reduced to 13 men after Samuel M’Foudi got shown a yellow card for taking Bryn Bradley out in the air. Despite being down to 13 men Barre extended the French lead at the stroke of half time meaning Wales trailed 20-15 at the interval.

Despite being at a significant numerical disadvantage France came out of the blocks firing in the early stages of the second half. Barre made it a two score game again with another successful penalty before Sa scored a try from a well-worked driving lineout.

Wales dominated the next 20 minutes of this game as they lay siege to the France try line, but they were denied by some sloppy handling errors, and excellent defence by the visitors. France claimed their try bonus point when Enzo Reybier picked off a long pass from Joe Hawkins to score.

France scored two late tries courtesy of Simon Tarel, and Max Auriac to seal their victory.