Worcester Warriors centre Andy Short – a product of the AASE scheme at Warriors – the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence – was on the score sheet as the England Under 18s Five Nations squad thrashed Japan High Schools 71-7 at Exeter Chiefs’ Sandy Park.
Worcester Sixth Form College student Short was part of the England side that ran in 11 tries on-route to the victory, which handed them their second win in seven days after an equally impressive 63-0 win over Scotland. England will now head to the Five Nations Festival next month in Parma, Italy in confident spirits.
England Under 18s Coach John Fletcher said: “We are pleased to get another win under our belts, although we did not play as well as we wanted. We are a little disappointed with our decision making, but Japan are a difficult side to play against and they caused us problems.
“It’s still very encouraging to be heading to Italy with two wins from two games, and I know that if we play as well as we can out there then we have got a serious chance of being successful.”
England Under 18s Five Nations Festival Squad v Japan High Schools
15 Marcus Watson (London Irish & St Georges College), 14 Christian Wade (London Wasps & RGS High Wycombe), 13 Andy Short (Worcester Warriors & Worcester 6th Form College), 12 Owen Farrell(Saracens & St Georges School), 11 Sam Edgerley (London Irish & Wellington College), 10 Jake Sharp (Saracens & Oaklands College), 9 Sam Stuart ( Harlequins & Sedbergh School), 1 Mako Vunipola (Bristol Rugby & Millfield School), 2 Peter Austin (London Irish & St Paul’s Catholic College), 3 Ryan Bower (Leicester Tigers & John Cleveland College), 4 Ben Glynn (Bristol Rugby & Filton College), 5 Charlie Matthews (Harlequins & Hurstpeirpoint College), 6 Billy Vunipola (Bristol Rugby & Castle School), 7 Alex Gray C (Newcastle Falcons & Barnard Castle), 8 Sam Jones (London Wasps & Aylesbury Grammar), Replacements:
16 Rob Buchanan (Harlequins & St Bedes School), 17 Henry Thomas (Bristol Rugby & Millfield School), 18 Harry Allen (Saracens & Chistlehurst & Sidcup Grammar), 19 Sam Twomey (Harlequins & Dulwich College), 20 Joe Trayfoot (Harlequins & Epsom College), 21 Matt Everard (Leicester Tigers & Wyggeston & Queen Elizabeth), 22 Ryan Glynn (Sale Sharks & Sedbergh School), 23 George Ford (Leicester Tigers & Rishworth School), 24 Jonathan Joseph (London Irish & Millfield School), 25 Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers & John Cleveland College), 26 Jack Wallace (London Wasps & RGS High Wycombe).
Tries: Jones, Sharp, Gray (2), Farrell, Stuart, Short, Wade, Edgerley, Joseph (2)
Conversions: Sharp (6). Ford (2)
England Under 18s Five Nations Festival squad Fixtures:
March 22nd, Kingston Park, 2pm England v Scotland, WON 63-0
March 29th, Sandy Park, 230pm, England v Japan High Schools, WON 71-7
April 12th, England v Italy, 630pm BST, Stadio L.Zaffanella
April 15th, England v Scotland,
April 18th, England v Ireland, venue & KO tbc