England opened the U18 Six Nations Festival with a hard fought 25-15 victory at the home of the Worcester Warriors on Sunday afternoon.
Sixways Stadium welcomed international rugby and the future rugby stars from both nations and a crowd of 4,087 were not disappointed as they were treated to a thrilling end-to-end encounter.
England fly half Freddie Burns scored a breakaway try and also showed his deadly accurate boot as he collected 13 points on the day.
Wales hit back with a superb tries from Liam Powell and a brace from James Loxton that levelled the scores in the early stages of the second half.
But a driving lineout try from lock Jamie Gibson proved crucial and Christian Wade’s late breakaway try cemented victory for England.
Wales enjoyed early dominance in the international and despite fly half Matthew Jarvis missing an early penalty, that he pushed just wide right, grabbed the first try after ten minutes. Slick hands from the Welsh backs, after initial forward power saw the ball taken forward, released the ball wide right with real pace and a neat flick pass from centre Kristian Phillips found wing Liam Powell who made no mistake as he raced over for a 5-0 advantage.
The hosts hit back on 20 minutes when they latched onto a charge down kick against Phillips and England fly half Burns scooped up the loose ball and ran over from 40 metres out before picking himself up to slot the conversion.
England suddenly stepped up a gear as the game hit the midway point of the first half and pinned Wales back with a booming kick from Burns before full back Jack Wallace tore a huge hole in the Welsh defence after collecting a clearance and running it back with real venom.
The England backs were suddenly alive and Andy Forsyth, Tom Homer and Sam Smith combined to make yards with a clever interchange of passes before the ball was lost forward at the breakdown.
A series of penalties relieved the pressure on Wales before Forsyth again cut a fantastic line to make a break before the defence mopped up any danger.
Wales were reduced to 14 men just before the break when prop Dan Watchurst was sent to the sin bin and up stepped Burns to slot the penalty and give England a 10-5 lead at the interval.
However, the visitors struck within two minutes of the restart as a deadly accurate cross field kick from Jarvis was brilliantly collected by James Loxton who raced over to level the scores with Jarvis just failing to land the conversion.
England’s reaction was swift as Wales were penalised for hands in the ruck and Burns again made no mistake with his penalty attempt to regain the lead.
The end-to-end nature of the game continued as Phillips made a lightning break for Wales before a loose lineout from England saw Simon Gardiner burrow up close before some frantic home defence kept out the Welsh forwards out.
England looked to make a crucial score when Burns kicked for the corner after Wales strayed offside. The ball was won cleanly and the forwards rumbled over with Jamie Gibson touching down to put daylight between the two sides.
But back came Wales within five minutes as a superbly worked overlap down the left allowed Loxton to grab his second of the game in the corner with Jarvis just missing the conversion.
Lock James Gaskell almost repeated the feat seconds afterwards for England but was bundled into touch. Welsh back row Rhys Jenkins came close with a charge down but the ball squirmed out dead as Wales staged late rally.
From nowhere, with just four minutes left, electric wing Christian Wade stole possession and showed the Wales defence a clean pair of heels to run in under the posts and finish the game as a contest. Forsyth added the extras for a commanding lead.
Timeline:
14m Powell t 0-5
20m Burns t Burns c 7-5
31m Burns p 10-5
37m Loxton t 10-10
40m Burns p 13-10
49m Gibson t 18-10
54m Loxton t 18-15
66m Wade t Forsyth c 25-15
England: 01 Joe Marler (Davies 50), 02 Jamie George, 03 Mako Vunipola (Currie 35), 04 Jamie Gibson, 05 James Gaskell, 06 Joe Trayfoot (Currie 60), 07 Jacob Rowan (Jenkins 50), 08 Rob Milligan, 09 Jordi Pasqualin (Harrrison 60), 10 Freddie Burns (Hurrell 65), 11 Christian Wade, 12 Tom Homer, 13 Andy Forsyth (Grove 67), 14 Sam Smith, 15 Jack Wallace
Replacements: 16 Lee Imiolek, 17 Olly Hayes, 18 James Currie, 19 Tom Holmes, 20 Joe Barker, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Will Hurrell, 23 Oli Grove
Wales: 01 Dan Watchurst, 02 Rhys Williams, 03 Simon Gardiner, 04 Lloyd Peers, 05 James King, 06 David Francis (Allan 63), 07 Rhys Jenkins, 08 James Thomas, 09 Rhys Downes, 10 Matthew Jarvis, 11 Adam Hughes (Harrison 50), 12 Ashley Beck, 13 Kristian Phillips, 14 Liam Powell, 15 James Loxton
Replacements: 16 Gareth Davies, 17 Ben John, 18 Joe Rees, 19 Ceri Davies, 20 Gareth Jenkins, 21 Tom Crandon, 22 Morgan Allan, 23 Ian Smerdon