England U20 end group stage unbeaten with 35-10 win over Scotland

England U20 35-10 Scotland U20, Beziers
Scorecard

Gabriel Ibitoye starred with a double as England U20 finished the group stage unbeaten with a 35-10 victory over Scotland in their World Rugby Under 20 Championship encounter at Beziers on Thursday.

England now finish in the top of Pool B and will now face South Africa in the semi-final at Narbonne on 12th June while Scotland at bottom of the table will face Ireland in the 9th place play-off at Perpignan.

Winger Ibitoye got England off the mark with a fourth-minute try and Tom Hardwick followed it with a conversion to take a 7-0 lead. The response from Scotland came in the 12th minute when Ross Thompson kicked a penalty goal but England further extended their lead with Beck Cutting (18') and James Scott (21') crossing over.

England were reduced to 14-men temporarily when James Grayson was sin-binned in the 25th minute but despite the setback they did not concede a point. However, within two minutes after Grayson returned back, Kyle Rowe scored the opening try for the Dark Blues and a conversion from Thompson meant they trailed by 17-10 at half time.

The second half started in the same fashion as first as Ibitoye scored his second. Hardwick missed out on the conversion but kicked a penalty goal to make amends as England stretched their lead to 25-10.

As Scotland struggled to make an impact in the second half, their problems compounded when Devante Onojaife was yellow carded for a high tackle in the 69th minute and England made full use of the numerical advantage with Joel Kpoku and Matt Williams scoring further tries to complete a 35-10 victory.

England captain Ben White said: “I think that we put in a really good performance tonight. We knew how difficult Scotland would be going into the game, they showed great heart and courage and it’s always a good fixture with the Scots. We really dug deep and showed what we can do.”