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Classy Wales prove too strong for England

Tuesday 2nd February 2010

England Community Lions Under-18s 14

Wales Under-18s 28

By Gavin Wilson

At South Leeds Stadium

 

Wales produced a classy display to comfortably beat England on a cold and windy night at the South Leeds Stadium.

 

After withstanding early pressure from the hosts, Wales were the first to strike as stand-off Dafydd Carter powered over from acting-half after 11 minutes.

 

Five minutes later, Wales and Carter were in for their second try of the night as the diminutive stand-off ran a good line to cut through the England defence to double the lead.

 

A shell-shocked England were still all at sea three minutes later as a high crossfield kick failed to be dealt with and loose forward Lewice Reece was gladly on hand to touch down for the third score of the evening.

 

As England tried to battle their way back into the game – largely thanks to some good metres gained upfield from hooker Alistair Leak – they had a neat-looking try disallowed for offside on 23 minutes, and it took until the 28th minute before they got themselves on the scoreboard.

 

The strong running Danny Burgan shrugged off three Wales defenders as he powered his way through to the line from 20 metres out down the left flank and the deficit was cut to eight points.

 

The relief from the Welsh pressure was short lived however, as the visitors scored two more tries before half-time.

 

The first came via an excellent kick return from impressive full-back Rhys Evans, whilst the second was the best try of the night, as Wales showed great handling skills down the right flank to create an overlap for winger Rhys Fenton to take full advantage of.

 

Centre Louren Quick successfully converted his first kicks of the night to give Wales an unassailable interval lead at 24-4.

 

It was a slightly slow and scrappy start to the second half and the temperature was raised a little after a midfield scrap. However the referee soon regained control and it was Wales again who scored the first points of the half as Rhys Evans received a pass and skinned his opposite number for a try in the corner, his second of the night.

 

Wales were down to 12 men on the hour mark as prop Adam Davies was sin-binned for a late high challenge on England kicker Callum Phillips and the Lions soon capitalised on the one-man advantage as they showed good hands to create enough space for centre Reece Lazenby to cross out wide.

 

The game started to take its toll on the young players in the final 10 minutes as a number of handling errors began to creep into the game, as well as cramp problems on the heavy pitch.

 

England battled on however and had the final say of the match with two minutes remaining, as substitute Matthew Syron drove over the line from 10 metres out and the try was converted by Ian Kerman to make the final score 14-28.

 

In an entertaining game in which many players impressed, the Great Britain Community Lions selectors will certainly have something to think about when naming a squad to take on France next month.

 

 

England

1 Shane Ackerly (West Cumbria)

2 Joe Bullock (Blackpool Scorpions)

3 Reece Lazenby (West Hull)

4 Blake Mohavic (West Cumbria)

5 Jonathan Frodsham (Pilkington Recs)

6 Callum Phillips (West Cumbria)

7 Ian Kerman (West Hull)

8 Kirk Collins (West Hull)

9 Alistair Leek (West Cumbria)

10 Steven Welton (Gateshead Thunder)

11 David Orwell (Saddleworth Rangers)

12 Glenn Riley (West Cumbria)

13 Matthew Huby (Wath Brow Hornets)

Interchange

14 Drew Johnson (Wigan St Patricks)

15 Danny Burgen (Widnes St Maries)

16 Matthew Syron (Queens)

17 Gary Sargeant (Greenwich Admirals)

 

 

Tries: Burgen (28) Lazenby (61) Syron (78)

Conversions: Kerman (1/3)

 

 

Wales

 

1 Rhys Evans (Warrington)

2 Rhys Fenton (Crusaders)

3 Owen Williams (Swansea Dragons)

4 Loren Quick (South Wales Scorpions)

5 Dan Goodwin (Crusaders)

6 Dafydd Carter (Crusaders)

7 Dale Evans (Crusaders)

8 Ben Evans (Warrington)

9 Kyle Blackmore (Crusaders)

10 Adam Davies (Crusaders)

11 Chris Davies (Crusaders)

12 Dale Blackmore (Rhyl Coasters)

13 Lewis Reece (Crusaders)

Interchange

14 Owain Griffiths (Leeds Met)

15 Nathan Hawkins (Crusaders)

16 Lewis Jones (Stanningley)

17 Rhodri Lloyd (Crusaders)

 

 

Tries: Carter (11, 16) Reece (19) Evans (33, 54) Jenton (35)

Conversions: Quick (2/6)

 

Scoring sequence: 0-4 0-8 0-12 4-12 4-18 4-24 4-28 8-28 14-28

 

Half Time: 4-24

 

Full time: 14-28

 

Penalties Conceded: England 10 Wales 9

 

Men of the Match: Alistair Leak (England) ; Rhys Evans (Wales)

 

Attendance: 300 (Approx).