HOT prospect Earl Collins was among the try-scorers as England’s under 19 regional academy side saw off the touring Australian Schools team 27-12 at Lymm RFC.
The highly-rated Worcester Warriors wing, who was joined in the national side by his Sixways colleague Andy Short, crossed the whitewash on the stroke of half-time.
England out-scored their antipodean opponents by four tries to two in an impressive showing.
Coach John Fletcher was always confident that his side had the talent to test the visitors and they fulfilled all his expectations in holding the whip-hand from the moment London Irish full-back Jonathan Joseph crossed for the opening try and Saracens fly-half Jake Sharp converted.
Sharp claimed the second try after 19 minutes and converted his own score for a 14-0 lead, before Australian centre Matthew Garland cut the deficit with a 29th-minute effort to raise the visitors’ morale and make the interval scoreline 14-5.
However, a third try from speedster Collins on 40 minutes opened up the lead once again, although the tourists refused to concede the struggle and rallied with a score by flanker Jack de Guingand that scrum-half and captain Matthew Lucas converted to bring his side within a score at 19-12.
Sharp then steadied the home team’s nerves with a penalty before leaving the field as a precaution ahead of an outing on the Saracens bench against Castres on Friday, but Joseph had the last word when he crossed for the final try after 68 minutes.
A cameo moment for the hosts came when 16-year-old replacement centre Mark Jennings from Lymm High School and Sale Sharks took the field when the management elected to use all their replacements.
The tourists now stay in the North West to prepare for their next game, an international against England Under 18s at Sale FC’s Heywood Road headquarters on Sunday (2pm), when coach Fletcher will once again be in charge.
“The game was a very tough, physical battle,” said Fletcher. “We lacked precision at times and it was a bit scrappy but for us to score four tries against opposition of that calibre after only half-a-day’s preparation was a pretty good effort.
“So far as the tourists are concerned, they compete well for the ball and they are very dangerous in broken play situations, as you would expect.”
England Academies, forwards: Harry Allen (Saracens), Pete Austin (London Irish), Ryan Bower, Matt Everard (both Leicester Tigers), Ben Glynn (Bristol), Tom Hicks (Northampton Saints), Sam Jones (Wasps), Charlie Matthews (Harlequins), Jethro Rawling (Leicester Tigers), Ollie Steadman (Leeds Carnegie), Henry Thomas (Sale Sharks), Mako Vunipola (Bristol).
Backs: Tommy Bell (Sales Sharks), Earl Collins (Worcester Warriors), Owen Farrell (Saracens), Ryan Glynn, Mark Jennings (both Sale Sharks), Jonathan Joseph (London Irish), Jake Sharp (Saracens), Andy Short (Worcester Warriors), Sam Stuart (Harlequins), Marcus Watson (London Irish).
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