With 30 tries across three games in the third round of Under-20s action, Friday night provided an enticing evening of rugby.
Fourteen of these came in the first game in Gueugnon where France stormed past Italy to top the standings, whilst Wales edged a close encounter in Dublin and a dramatic comeback saw Scotland overcome England in Edinburgh.
Click here to view the 2018 Under-20s Six Nations table after three rounds
Scotland Under-20s 24-17 England Under-20s Myreside
Prop Finlay Richardson scored two tries as Scotland Under-20s overturned a ten-point half-time deficit to beat England 24-17 at Myreside Stadium in Edinburgh.
England were 17-7 in front at half-time after Tom Hardwick cancelled out Ewan Johnson’s score and Tom Seabrook added another to take the lead.
Scotland fought back though in the second half and when England’s Jordan Olowofela was sent to the bin for a late tackle on Kyle Rowe on 54 minutes, the hosts capitalised fully.
Prop Richardson then went over twice and, along with a penalty try after England brought down a powerful driving maul heading towards the try-line, Scotland recorded their first win of the Under-20s Six Nations.
Head coach Stevie Scott was delighted with his players’ performance, especially after a thumping from France in the round previous and going down at half-time to the defending champions this time out.
Scott said: “I’m very, very proud of the boys,” said Scott. “For us to go and get heavily beat by France and then the response we got, against 23 full-time players, says a lot about the drive and desire to do well in a Scotland jersey.
“We’ve been working hard all week on what it means to play against England.
“It’s a different game to the other Six Nations fixtures and it has a different spice to it, so we really tried to get hold of that emotion all week.
“We were outstanding this evening. We had to unsettle them, and play on the edge of the game, and I thought we did that all night.
“We really worked on the maul, and that was outstanding this evening. It was really pleasing to see.” Ireland Under-20s 38-41 Wales Under-20s Donnybrook
James Botham crossed the whitewash twice to hold off a late Irish comeback as Wales earned their second victory of the Championship.
Tommy Rogers, Max Williams and Botham all went over in the first quarter of the game to open up a 19-3 lead for Wales.
Angus Curtis’ score for the hosts gave them a foothold before the break but a second-half try from Tommy Reffell and another from Botham looked to have put Wales on course for the win.
Yet the Irish wouldn’t lie down, with No.8 Jack O’Sullivan notching two scores to put the hosts back in contention. Callum Carson dotted down after a fluid break to extend the visitors’ lead, but Johnny Stewart’s fourth for Ireland kept them in touch.
When Cai Evans slotted a late penalty to stretch the lead back to ten points Wales could breathe but back came Ireland as Tommy O’Brien scorched through the middle; alas, it was not quite enough.
The Welsh stars were proud of their performance in holding off the Irish, especially away from home, and claimed it will give them confidence moving forward.
Winger Joe Goodchild said: “I thought it was an excellent effort from the boys, all working for each other.
“We kind of let them into the game but at the end of the day we got the win and the boys worked hard, you can’t ask for anymore.
“It was an entertaining game to watch, happy that the boys are putting themselves away and everyone was working as a team.”
Full-back Cai Evans, who scored four conversions and a penalty, said: “It was a great performance and we really pulled through in the end.
“I’m so proud of the whole squad and the Championship is there for the taking now.” FranceUnder-20s 78-12 Italy Under-20s Stade Jean-Laville
Iban Etcheverry grabbed a hat-trick as France Under-20s cruised past Italy to continue their hunt for the Grand Slam.
The hosts were 50-0 up by half-time and looked comfortable in every aspect of the game, with Gervais Cordin and Adrien Seguret both crossing twice by the end.
Louis Carbonel, Lucas Peyresblanques, Antonin Berruyer, Julien Delbouis, and Jean-Baptiste Gros all got on the scoresheet too in an emphatic and clinical display by the French.
Italy did manage two tries against the French in the second half, as Simone Cornelli picked off a pass to run in from 60 metres for the first and Edoardo Iachizzi rumbled over from a rolling maul.
