England U20 v Italy U20

[dailywaffle]

From rfu.com:

England U20 17 Italy U20 0

Henry Trinder and Luke Eves both skated over for tries as England's Under 20s got the defence of their RBS 6 Nations title off to a winning start at an icy Worcester.

Both centres have Guinness Premiership experience under their belts with Gloucester and Bristol respectively and their classy midfield combination with Newcastle Falcon Rory Clegg made light of the difficult conditions as the temperature plunged at Sixways.

Trinder also had a hand in a crucial second-half score by Harlequins wing Seb Stegmann with Clegg adding a conversion as Italy were frozen out and failed to score despite several surges at the line in the final minutes.

Worcester's staff had worked throughout the day to make the pitch playable but the surrounding area was beyond their control. Concerns over the safety of the general public getting to and from the ground in the cold led to a game originally scheduled for 8pm being played behind closed doors and starting at 5.30pm.

Despite the slippery surface, which made dazzling footwork increasingly difficult, England mixed their game up nicely in the opening quarter, patient on the ball for long spells and pinning Italy into the corners through Clegg's angled kicks.

They finally made the breakthrough 20 minutes into the game after skipper Calum Clark blasted his way over the gain-line and Trinder cut back and accelerated 20 metres to the line.

England lost their way for a spell after that despite dominating territory as Tommaso Iannone fired away a succession of clearing kicks but they were always ambitious to run from deep - Stegmann particularly sharp on the right - and eventually created the opening for Trinder to get away on the left, draw the last man and put Eves away.

Clegg converted and England kept the tempo high to hold on for a 12-0 lead at the break - then took the game out of Italy's reach by adding a third try 10 minutes into the second half.

Trinder held enough space open to give Stegmann the room to show a devastating step off his right foot that beat the final two defenders.

Italy threatened to get on the scoreboard for the first time in the 55th minute when Iannone pushed his long-range penalty wide of the right-hand post.

More chances for England followed, though, Stegmann just failing to put Will Hurrell away going into the final quarter of the game, until Italy fought their way back into contention in the closing stages.

They were denied by one superb defensive scrum before clearing the ball into the Italian half and England comfortably controlled the final five minutes to avoid any slip-ups on the opening night of this season's tournament.

England U20: Charlie Sharples (Gloucester Rugby; Rob Miller, Newcastle Falcons 58); Seb Stegmann (Harlequins), Henry Trinder (Gloucester Rugby), Luke Eves (Bristol Rugby; Greig Tonks, Leicester Tigers 62), Will Hurrell (Leicester Tigers); Rory Clegg (Newcastle Falcons), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers; Dan White, Leeds Carnegie 75); Ben Moon (Exeter Chiefs), Jamie George (Saracens; James Clark, London Irish 67), Bob Baker (London Wasps; Shaun Knight, Gloucester Rugby 54), James Gaskell (Sale Sharks; Dan Williams, Gloucester Rugby 67), Graham Kitchener (Worcester Warriors), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Calum Clark (Leeds Carnegie, captain), Chris York (Harlequins; Josh Ovens, Bath Rugby 62).

Scorers: Tries: Trinder, Eves, Stegmann. Conversion: Clegg.

Italy U20: Alberto Benettin (Carrera Petrarca Padova); Giovanbattista Venditti (AlmavivA UR Capitolina; Luca Martinelli, GS Fiamme Oro Roma 59), Denis Majstorovic (Vibu Noceto; Alberto Zorzi, Ruggers Tarvisium 70), Tommaso Benvenuti (Benetton Treviso), Michele Mortali (Plusvalore Gran Parma); Tommaso Iannone (Ruggers Tarvisium), Edoardo Gori (Consiag I Cavalieri Prato); Andrea Lovotti (Cammi Calvisano; Edoardo Carugi, MPS Viadana 65), Andrea Manici (Plusvalore Gran Parma), Lorenzo Romano (Overmach Cariparma; Carlo Fazzari, Cammi Calvisano 50), Lorenzo Contini (Plusvalore Gran Parma; Stefano Scanferla, Cammi Calvisano 65), Joshua Furno (Antares Benevento), Filippo Ferrarini (Vibu Noceto; Gabriele Cicchinelli, AlmavivA UR Capitolina 52), Emiliano Caffini (MPS Viadana), Luca Petillo (Mantovani Lazio, captain).

Referee: John Lacey (IRU).