May 3, 2008
England Students Under 23s 38 Combined Services Under 23s 26
Five tries including one by the captain, Phil Ellis, steered England Students to victory in their final fixture of the season at Twickenham Stadium today.
After international wins over Scottish Universities and Irish Colleges, and a defeat away to France Students, it was a satisfactory conclusion for Ellis’s side against a team drawn from up-and-coming players in the three Services.
“We have a had a large squad this year,” said Ellis, “and every time we’ve been together we have improved and developed.
“To captain an England side at Twickenham is pretty much a dream come true and the try topped it off nicely.”
This is the first season that the England Students have been played as a unified team after the bringing together of the former Students and Universities sides.
And their preparation for this curtain-raiser to the Army v Navy match had an unexpected twist in midweek when 10 players were invited as blind testers for some perfumes, with footage to be shown on GMTV next Thursday.
Once the players had shown their sense of scent and chivalry with the three models wearing the perfume it was down to business against the Combined Services.
With barely 65 seconds gone the opening score was an intriguing one, given the debate currently raging over the experimental law variations. The Services set up a driving maul in England’s 22, and when it was pulled down a few metres from the goalline, the referee Dick Underwood immediately awarded a penalty try.
Services fly half Keri Cummings converted for a 7-0 lead and would kick well throughout the match to tot up 16 points.
England replied within two minutes when scrum half Jamie Hood – a late call up after Oxford’s Toby Henry broke his leg in training – replied with a try at the left corner.
Cummings put over a couple of penalty goals for the Services to extend the lead to 13-5 then fly half Chris Ashwin kicked one for England after 19 minutes.
England had the lead for the first time when Ashwin converted a try by inside centre Ellis in the 26th minute. Sharp passing from a line out enabled Ellis, a former England Under 18 cap who has shared the Students’ captaincy with Ian Kench this season, to make a clean break through the Services’ first-up defence and he ran 15 metres to score.
There were two more near misses for England when Drew Locke hacked on from a fumbled pass but was penalised for attempting to place the ball instead of releasing in the tackle, then Adrian Griffiths’ charge down had the Services scurrying to clear the danger on their goalline.
That was followed by Griffiths getting caught in two minds near his 22 after 35 minutes to concede a penalty for holding on which allowed Cummings to kick the Services into a 16-15 lead.
England nosed back in front with the last kick of the half, though, when Ashwin converted a simple penalty, and they were never headed again.
A catch and drive try for replacement flanker Mike Denbee converted by Ashwin made it 25-16 after five minutes of the second half, with England having rallied from their opening setback to consistently turn the weapon of the driving maul on their opponents.
The searing pace of left wing Tom Hockedy – a double try-scorer against Irish Colleges in March – gave him a try all the way down the touchline after 49 minutes.
England had a setback, though, when replacement hooker Jonathan Moyce was sent to the sin bin on 60 minutes for not rolling away from the tackle.
There would be two more yellow cards late in the game for Hood and Combined Services’ No 8 Rory Thompson.
In the meantime, Cummings dropped a goal and Ashwin kicked his third penalty then David Bates’ line out catch in the England 22 set the Services’ replacement lock Paul Gregory up for his side’s second try, which Cummings converted to trim England’s lead to 33-26.
With both sides down to 14 men in added time, England’s scrum worked a straightforward pushover try against a tiring Services pack, with No 8 Peter Browne applying the finishing touch.
England Students U23: P Wackett (Leeds University); M Coady (Loughborough University), D Locke (Northumbria University), P Ellis (Hertfordshire University, capt), T Hockedy (Exeter University); C Ashwin (Bath University), J Hood (Loughborough University); T Fidler (Bath University), M Cross (Loughborough University), R Lutton (Oxford University), S Pitfield (Loughborough University), A Griffiths (Bath University), M Rickner (Exeter University), P Clarke (Oxford University), P Browne (Durham University).
Replacements: J Moyce (St Mary's College) for Cross 50, E Pickles (Imperial Medics) for Griffiths 70, A Pretorius (UWE Hartpury) for Rickner 50, M Denbee (Plymouth University) for Clarke 24, T Stevenson (UWE Hartpury) for Ashwin 77, C Rowley (Oxford Brookes) for Hood 77, P Dias (Loughborough University) for Locke 80+1.
Scorers: tries: Hood, Ellis, Denbee, Hockedy, Browne; cons: Ashwin 2; pens: Ashwin 3.
Combined Services U23: Spr R Slade-Jones (39 Eng Regt); LCpl L Blackburn (Cdo Logs Regt), SAC K Craven (RAF Boulmer, capt), AET L Taylor (RNAS Yeovilton), Mne A Humphries (45 Cdo RM); Cpl K Cummings (SEAE Bordon), SAC D Birkby (RAF Benson); SAC S Bratt (RAF Odiham), 2Lt G Saynor (7 Sig Regt), Sub Lt D Smith RN (BRNC Dartmouth), LCpl D Bates (12 Sig Gp), Cpl R Davidson (3 Regt AAC), SAC P Bowen (RAF Lyneham), Mne R Wells (42 Cdo RM), 2Lt R Thompson (7 Sig Regt).
Replacements: Mne B Tait (42 Cdo RM) for Saynor 40, Sub Lt T Blackburn (DTUS Southampton) for Bratt 53, SAC P Gutteridge (RAF Marham) for L Blackburn 56, LCpl P Gregory (9 Regt RLC) for Davidson 65. Unused: Cpl J Baker (8 Tpt Regt RLC), LCpl K Chorley (2 Royal Welsh), Mne J Stevens (Cdo Logs Regt), Fus M Harding-Prior (2 RRF), OCdt B McNeil (RMA Sandhurst).
Scorers: tries: penalty try, Gregory; cons: Cummings 2; pens: Cummings 3; drop: Cummings.
Referee: D Underwood (RFU).
Ends |
