Fisilau helps England U20s to victory

By Alfie Martin
3/2/23

England Under-20s opened their 2023 Six Nations campaign with a 41-36 win over Scotland Under-20s at The Stoop.

Alan Dickens’ side - which included Exeter Chiefs youngster Greg Fisilau - ran in six tries at the home of Harlequins to claim a winning bonus point.

Josh Hathaway scored a first-half hat-trick, with Chandler Cunningham-South, Finn Carnduff and Tobias Elliott also crossing, the last of those tries crucial in fighting off a Scotland comeback.

England will take on Italy in round two of the tournament at Gloucester Rugby’s Kingsholm Stadium next Friday.

The hosts made a dream start earning a penalty after just 11 seconds after a good chase from Elliott from the kick-off. They converted that territory into the opening try two minutes in from Hathaway, who coasted over on the left after Cunningham-South had been denied close to the line.

Sam Harris missed the conversion and Scotland hit back through Harris McLeod, with Richie Simpson’s conversion putting them 7-5 up.

Again, England struck from the restart, quickly shifting the ball from right to left to put Hathaway over for his second, Harris converting this time for a 12-7 lead.

After another Simpson penalty, Hathaway completed a 15-minute hat-trick, the beneficiary of some smart work around the breakdown by Lewis Chessum to force a turnover.

Cunningham-South then added the bonus-point score from a flowing move. Elliott got away down the right and found Charlie Bracken on his shoulder. Two phases later, the England No.8 showed his power to force his way over.

England were on top at scrum-time, earning crucial penalties and turned that pressure into a try when Scotland failed to deal with a five-metre scrum and Bracken nipped in to take the ball before Finn Carnduff followed up for England’s fifth try.

That made it 31-10, but Scotland finished the half on a high with a second try through Rudi Brown, before a late Simpson conversion made it 31-20 at the break.

England had been a threat throughout the opening 40 minutes, racking up 306 metres with ball in hand and beating 11 defenders, making seven clean breaks on their way to their five tries.

Scotland carried their momentum into the second half, with skipper Liam McConnell getting over for their third try to cut the deficit to four points.

Simpson added three more penalties as the visitors hit the front, 36-31 ahead with 15 minutes remaining.

England struck back after building pressure. When a rolling maul was pulled down, they benefitted from a penalty advantage to go to the backs where Monty Bradbury picked out Elliott with a cross-kick. Harris converted from a tricky angle to make it 38-36.

Harris put a penalty miss behind him to slot a second attempt through the posts with a minute to go to make the game safe.