England Under-20s boss Alan Dickens believes his side still has room for improvement after a win over Scotland maintained their 100% winning start to the Six Nations Under-20s.
England made it two Championship wins from two in Cardiff after scoring five tries against their rivals, in a 31-12 victory.
After a slow start in their previous game against France, they were on it from the word go this week, with captain Jack van Poortvliet going over inside three minutes.
Although not a flawless display, Dickens said it did show the resilience of his team.
He said: “It was another excellent win. I think there were elements of frustration at the end, but to be two from two, scoring four tries, and ten points, it was a fantastic effort from the players.
“After the French game we said there were areas we could improve and work on, and I think that is still the case now. We have areas to work on for Ireland.
“But I am really pleased with the result, the boys did well to stick at it today. Scotland came back at us when we were down to 13 men and the character we showed then was outstanding.”
Sam Riley scored one try and assisted another in a Player of the Match-display, while Fin Smith and Deago Bailey also crossed.
But England did not have it all their own way, with Riley to the sin bin in the second half and flanker Lucas Brooke was shown a red card after a head collision.
But Dickens’ side remained resilient, repelling wave after wave of Scottish attacks.
He said: “We showed that if teams are going to score against us, they have to work really hard to score.
“I think today showed testament to how the boys have together. They really want to work hard for each other. We gave away too many penalties, but managed the consequences of that really well.”
Dickens was also delighted for hooker Riley, who starred throughout.
The under-20s boss added: “I was really pleased for Sam. One of the aspects of being involved in the 20s is that I saw him last year and saw how frustrated he wasn’t quite in the top two last year.
“But the value of the under-20s programme is show in him. He really has kicked on this season.
“When the Scots came hard at us in the second half, the try Sam scored relieved huge pressure that was building on us.
“He has trained really well the last two weeks, after missing the six-seven weeks he did through injury before that.”
