England Under-20s secured their first Grand Slam title since 2012 – and their fifth Championship in seven years – with a thrilling Round Five victory in Dublin while Scotland earned their first victory of the tournament and France beat Wales to beat them to the runners-up spot.
Here we take a look at how England secured a flawless record in the Championship while three teams clinched three wins apiece.
ROUND ONE
Defending champions Wales kicked off the Under-20s Six Nations with their trip to Italy and looked to be showing their form of last season when they beat a stubborn Italian side 27-5 in Milan.
In a display of power and patience, the Welsh crossed three times to beat a side that would go on to run France and Ireland close in the following rounds.
See the final Under-20s Six Nations table here
Ireland began their campaign with a nailbiting, one-point victory over Scotland at Cumbernauld courtesy of a late try from Paul Boyle that was coolly converted by Johnny McPhillips for a 20-19 win.
The Scots dominated the earl exchanges and took a commanding 13-5 lead into the break and 14 points from the boot of fly-half Josh Henderson looked to be helping them on their way to a winning start before McPhillips’ conversion won it for the Irish.
World champions England got their campaign off to a flyer as they cruised to a nine-try victory over France at Sandy Park.
Fly-half Max Malins was instrumental in their 59-17 win scoring 24 of his side’s points as six of the English backline crossed the whitewash in Exeter.
ROUND TWO
It was back to Italy to kick off Round Two and visitors Ireland secured their second successive one-point victory away from home showing their composure in the dying stages of Championship matches.
Winger Jordan Larmour’s double proved decisive as the Irish got over the line 27-26 despite a late Italian fight back in Prato.
England secured their second consecutive bonus-point victory in the Championship when they overcame Wales in a six-try thriller at Colwyn Bay.
England talisman Zach Mercer scored a try seven minutes from time to quash any hope of a Welsh comeback and lead his team to a 37-21 victory.
France scrum-half Arthur Retière scored a late double to secure his side a bonus point as they downed a spirited Scottish side 36-8 in Grenoble.
With sides only separated by a score at half-time, France showed their class in the closing stages by pulling away from the Scots to recover from their opening round defeat.
ROUND THREE
England sent out a message to the rest of the sides in the Championship at the start of Round Three when they scored eight tries in a 46-0 victory over Italy at the Northern Echo Arena.
Full-back Tom Parton and flanker Josh Bayliss dotted down twice each as England underlined their Grand Slam intentions when they secured the bonus point just two minutes into the second half.
Ireland too earned their third win of the tournament with a 27-22 victory over France thanks, largely, to a flying start to the game at Donnybrook.
The French responded with two tries in the second period but the Irish did enough to put themselves in the mix for the title in the last two rounds.
Scotland and Wales signed off Round Three by playing out a 99-point thriller at Broadwood Stadium. The hosts scored six tries to Wales’ eight with Welshman Kieran Williams scoring his side’s third before half-time for a 27-12 lead in Cumbernauld.
Scotland secured their own try-scoring bonus point within the hour before a chaotic final quarter resulted in five tries, rounded off by Welsh replacement Morgan Morris.
ROUND FOUR
After a tough loss to the Irish, France got back to winning ways with an 18-13 victory over Italy to secure their second win of the campaign.
Six points from the boot of impressive fly-half Romain N’Tamack after the break were enough to stave off a brave Italian fight back in Cagliari.
Ireland’s loss to Wales extinguished their hopes of a Grand Slam campaign with Kieran Williams’ fine double proving decisive in his side’s 41-27 victory.
Wales earned their third win of the campaign, having already beaten Italy and Scotland, and the timing of their scoring – just as Ireland looked to be pegging them back – was pivotal.
As a result of Ireland’s loss, England could wrap up the Under-20s Six Nations title with a 33-5 win over Scotland at Franklin’s Gardens and they did just that with Zach Mercer, now captain, securing the bonus-point in the last ten minutes.
Scotland provided much resistance during the game with a fine try from winger Darcy Graham just after half-time giving the Scots hope but tries from Mercer and Brophy-Clews in the dying minutes made sure of an English win.
England matched their senior counterparts in wrapping up the title a week early and sought a victory over Ireland for their first Grand Slam in five years.
ROUND FIVE
In England’s Grand Slam bid at Donnybrook, they came up against their toughest test of the Championship but managed to puncture the Irish defence twice the the first-half to lead 14-3 at the break thanks to tries from Jack Nay and Henry Walker.
Ireland replacement Gavin Coombes got his side back to within a score after the break as the men in green looked to spoil the English party on St Patrick’s Day.
But England staved off a late Irish resurgence – with a turnover on their own line the final act of the game – to clinch the Grand Slam with a hard-fought 14-10 win.
Elsewhere in the final round of the Championship, Scotland earned their first win of the Championship against Italy to condemn them to a winless campaign.
Darcy Graham impressed for the Scots scoring their first and last of five tries in a 38-17 victory at Broadwood. In the Championship’s final game, Romain N’Tamack inspired France to a bonus-point victory over Wales to secure second spot behind champions England.
After going 13 points down early on, the French fly-half had a hand in the first before scoring and converting the second of two quick-fire tries before the break for an unlikely 14-13 lead.
France pulled away in the second period scoring four more tries to end the tournament on a high in Montauban with a 40-20 success.
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