Victory over Scotland sees the title remain with England
A bonus point try by No.8 Zach Mercer sealed the Championship for England U20s as they continue their quest for a first Grand Slam in six years with a dominant display.
A high-tempo but errorfilled game at Franklin’s Gardens saw the home-side grab five tries with other scores courtesy of scrumhalf Harry Randall, blindside Jack Nay, wing Dominic Morris and replacement back Theo Brophy Clews.
It took England 20 minutes to break down Scotland, but once they broke the dam, they flooded through and will be looking to win again against Ireland at Dublin’s Donnybrook on Friday.
A delighted captain Mercer, said: “It was frustrating but you have got to give credit to Scotland. It’s always a tough encounter and they tried their best to disrupt us and fair play for a while they did have us rattled.
“But I’m really proud of the lads, they stood up and took the game by the scruff of the neck and to win 33-5 at the end is an awesome result. We know with Ireland we will have to be switched on for the full 80 minutes.”
England started strongly but threw away several opportunities as the Scots held on in their own half for the first quarter.
Mercer himself fluffed a good chance with an overly exuberant basketball-style pass through the legs to wing Joe Cokanasiga.
But a long Scotland lineout just by the half-way line went astray into England’s Will Butler’s hands on the 20th minute and key breaks from Randall and openside Ben Curry saw England get within a whisker of the Scottish line before a roll by prop Ciaran Knight created the chance for Nay to score.
England looked set to grab a second try six minutes later when Mercer and lock Max Davies both broke through during several phases only to lose possession with a knock-on.
Scotland had their best opportunity of the first half on the half-hour mark when scrum-half Andrew Simmers found prop George Thornton, who strode through England’s line and offloaded to fly-half Josh Henderson and wing Darcy Graham, only for the pass to be knocked-on.
England finally got rewarded for their endeavour at the end of the half, breaks from Curry and Mercer opening up space for Randall to dot down in the left corner.
England’s quick linebreaks continued to pierce deep into Scottish territory and another charge by Butler was recycled to fullback Parton and Morris, who slid through in the corner on the 47th minute.
From the restart, Scotland hit back, with blindside Bruce Flockhart releasing wing Graham, who charged to England’s five-metre line.
After two phases he popped up again to take a classy pass from Andrew Simmers to score.
The away side nearly got a second on the 57th minute when flanker Matt Fagerson was through from a Henderson pass but a forward pass was spotted.
England were putting several phases together with no reward but a fumble by Henderson allowed Mercer to score.
The skipper then linked up with Cokanasiga and Brophy Clews for the fifth.