England ran out comfortable winners over Scotland in the opening round of the World Rugby U20 Championship in Verona, Italy, this afternoon.
Image: World Rugby 
THERE was perhaps little surprise that Scotland again lost heavily to the defending World Rugby U20 Champions in the opening round of the 2025 edition of the competition in Payanini Center, Verona. England had won decisively when the two sides met in the Six Nations and in the searing energy-sapping heat of Italy’s north-east, the titleholders were able to replicate the slick back play they produced earlier this year on the back on consistent power from a forward pack fortified by a strong bench.
Yet, for all that the scoreline might make miserable reading for Scotland fans, there was much to like about the dark blue side’s play, particularly in the first 15 minutes of the match when Scotland led twice before England exerted their trademark dominance.
The difference was not just the overall strength of the England forwards and their replacements but rather, and especially in the first half, the sheer pace of Tyler Offiah and Jack Bracken on the wings, allied to considerable nous in midfield acquired from playing a decent level of rugby on a regular basis. In the event, Scotland’s defence was at times too easily dismantled, as indeed it had been in the Six Nations meeting at Newcastle, although in the second half a tightening-up of this department put a temporary lock on the Scots’ opponents.
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But you can’t get away from the fact that England have about 20 times the number of players from which to choose at this level and inevitably that will mean big and more powerful players in their final selection. That said, Scotland had periods in the match where they earned considerable respect, notably for 30 minutes in the second half when they repelled an England side that turned the screw painfully, albeit hampered a tad by the sending-off of their flanker George Timmins for a reckless elbow to the head of Ollie Blyth-Lafferty.
Earlier the big Scotland prop, Blyth-Lafferty, had shown himself to be more than useful, helping his forward colleagues gain some dominance in the set-scrums and inevitably raising the question of when his professional career will be allowed to really take off.
As for the rest of the forwards, their collective effort against some solid England performers was admirable and no less in the back-row where Scotland, already without Freddy Douglas were weakened by the loss of Oliver Duncan after half an hour. In the event. Charlie Moss and Duncan’s replacement Oliver Finlayson-Duncan, making his Scotland U20 debut, showed up well.
Scotland’s best spell in the game was the opening part of the first half when pressure on England through the scrum and slick movement of the ball along the backline earned its reward reward with a well constructed try which featured a kick-pass from Matthew Urwin to Fergus Watson and then an offload from the deck to the alert Noah Cowan, which sent the scrum-half over in the corner.
England were able to reply quickly after a damaging run by their flying wing Offiah, who seemed certain to score only to be hit effectively by Watson. Sadly for Scotland, that try saver was judged (correctly) to be a no-arms tackle leaving the referee no option but to award a penalty-try and issue a yellow-card for the Scotland wing.
Unperturbed by that double setback, Scotland gained a penalty from the restart which they kicked to the corner so the they could launch a driving maul. Such was the power of the Scotland forwards that England were forced to pull down the maul, the immediate consequence being a second penalty-try within the space of less than five minutes and a yellow-card for hooker Louie Gulley.
Again England wasted little time in hitting back, this timeBracken romping over after another display of defence-beating pace from Offiah, with Ben Coen adding the conversion to give England a 14-12 lead.
England had nudged ahead and from thereon never looked back. From a penalty created line-out, temporary replacement hooker Kepi Tuipulotu powered towards the line before Exeter powerhouse No 8 Kane James took over and had the strength to force his way over for a further try, once again converted by Coen.
James then made it a brace by appearing in midfield and taking a short pass before racing to the line for England’s bonus point try, the touchline conversion by Coen giving England a 28-12 advantage with just less than half an hour played.
Matters became worse for Scotland when 18 year-old Will Knight used line-out ball to burst through midfield to register try number five, once more converted by Coen. Knight then combined with Offiah to set up England’s sixth try, a second touchdown by Bracken, with Coen keeping up his unfailing conversion rate to establish a 42-12 half-time lead.
After the first period plethora of points, a drought followed in the next half hour as Scotland dug in and defended staunchly to keep England’s attack in check. During that period, the leaders lost flanker George Timmins for a reckless elbow strike to the head of Blyth-Lafferty but even so did not seem weakened by being a man down.
It seemed that the game was heading for a scoreless second-half but when full-back Josh Bellamy created and converted a try from a penalty with a chip and gather, England were back in business.
That was confirmed when replacement Ben Redshaw gathered a grubber kick to race in for what was to be England’s final try safely converted from wide out by Bellamy.
But it was Scotland who, having opened the scoring, had the final say in the matter of points with a break by Kerr Yule from an inside pass and then support from replacement Hector Patterson, who showed his rugby skills with a chip and gather, to claim his side’s third try, Urwin’s conversion giving Scotland a confidence lifting end to the match.
Teams –
England: J Bellamy; J Bracken (A McParland 61), N Lilley (C Ridl 68), W Knight, T Offiah; B Coen (B Redshaw 68), J Weimann; R McEachran (O Scola 68), L Gulley (K Tuipulotu 48), T Raymont (V Sela 68), T Burrow (O Sedeka 53), J Kpoku , G Timmins, S Williams, K James (A Ainsworth-Cave 53).
Scotland: J Brown (J Hocking 47); N Moncrieff, J Ventisei, K Yule, F Watson; M Urwin, N Cowan (H Patterson 63); J Shearer (O McKenna 43), J Roberts (S Stephens 47), O Blyth-Lafferty (J Stewart 63), B Godsell, D Halkon (D Cockburn 53), C Moss (M Fyffe 63), O Duncan (O Finlayson-Russell 30), R Logan.
Referee: Marcus Playle
Scorers –
England: Tries: Pen Try, Bracken 2, James 2, Knight, Bellamy, Redshaw; Cons Cohen 5, Bellamy 2.
Scotland: Tries Cowan, Pen Try, Patterson; Con: Urwin.
Scoring Sequence (England first): 0-5; 7-5; 7-12; 12-12; 14-12; 19-12; 21-12; 26-12; 28-12; 33-12; 35-12; 40-12; 42-12 (h-t) 47-12; 49-12; 54-12; 56-12; 56-17; 56-19.
Yellow cards –
England: Gulley (16 mins).
Scotland: Watson (14 mins).
Red card –
England: Timmins (53 mins).
Man-of-the-Match: England winger Jack Bracken showed both pace and power when in possession and was a constant threat in attack. The big wing is benefitting from England’s more expansive approach to the game and with the pace of Bracken and Offiah, why wouldn’t they opt for a wider game?
Talking point: Scotland should not be discouraged by the big scoreline against them and will have taken note of an even bigger points difference in the other pool match between South Africa and Australia which ended in a massive win for the Junior Boks. Scotland face Australia in the next round on Friday and should be battle-ready for a competitive match. What is needed is perhaps a slight sharpening in defence but if they can take the positives from the the attacking game that, at times, they showed against England then there should be confidence going into round two.
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