England Under-18s secured third place in the AER (Association Europeenne de Rugby) Championship by beating hosts Italy 21-5 in today's play-off in Treviso.
The win means that England will go into next year's competition as third seeds for the second season running. It also meant that lead coach Graham Whitmore and team manager Ted Atkinson were able to retire on a winning note..
Whitmore, of Truro School, has been England's lead coach for five years during which time they have won the AER competition three times. Yorkshireman Atkinson steps down after a seven year involvement at this level, initially with the England Under-18 Clubs side.
"Ted has been the glue that has held everything together and he has done a fantastic job," Whitmore said. "We were disappointed to lose to Ireland in the semi-finals for the second year running. But to finish with a win and third place in the Championship was a great way to bow out."
England expected and got a stern test from Italy who pushed defending champions France close in midweek. England were only 7-0 up at half-time after hooker Arthur Ellis chased a kick ahead from Jon Kennedy and Mark Atkinson added the conversion.
But England tightened up after the break and took control with a superb length of the pitch try which was created by replacement fly-half Joe Ford's eye for an opening. Ford's attack was supported by Nico Fraser and Matt Keyte's chip over the advancing defence was snaffled by replacement centre Jordan Davies who scored the try. Ford added the conversion and he also improved England's third try which was scored by Kennedy, the son of Sale Sharks owner Brian Kennedy.
Italy pulled back an unconverted consolation try midway through the second half, but England defended resolutely thereafter with back-row forwards Will Welch and Matt Everard and prop Yann Thomas impressing.
"The players have bonded well in the time that we have been away and they have made significant progress since we were beaten by the Northampton Saints Academy in a warm-up game last month," Whitmore said.
"They have finally arrived as an international side and that is down to the hard work that the players have put in and the way that they have responded to efforts of the coaching team. While we have been out here in Italy a huge amount of work has gone in both in match analysis and in preparation work on the training field and the time that we have been able to spend with the players has really paid dividends."
England Under-18s: 15 Marcus Watson (St George's College, London Irish and Surrey) ; 14 Nico Fraser (Haileybury College, Saracens and Essex) , 13 Will East (St Paul's School, Barnes, London Wasps and Middlesex - captain) ,
12 Jon Kennedy (Sale Sharks and Cheshire) , 11 Henry Staff (Bedford Modern School, Saracens and East Midlands) ; 10 Mark Atkinson (St Ambrose College, Sale Sharks and Cheshire) , 9 Matt Keyte (Dulwich College, Harlequins and Surrey) ; 1 Yann Thomas (Weston-super-Mare and Somerset) , 2 Arthur Ellis (St Benedict’s School Ealing, London Wasps and Middlesex) , 3 Kane Palma-Newport (Beechen Cliff School, Bath and Somerset) , 4 Aaron Hall (Berwick HS, Newcastle Falcons and Northumberland) , 5 Rhys Jones (Corsham School, Corsham and Dorset & Wiltshire) , 6 Will Welch (RGS Newcastle, Newcastle Falcons and Northumberland) , 7 Matt Everard (Queen Elizabeth II School, Leicester Tigers and Leicestershire) , 8 Ollie Stedman (Kings School Tynemouth, Percy Park and Northumberland) . Replacements used: Jordan Davies (Denstone College, Eccles and Lancashire), Joe Ford (Rishworth School and Yorkshire), Jimmy Stevens (Truro College, SWERA and Cornwall), Shaun Knight (St Peter's Gloucester, Gloucester and Gloucestershire), James Freeman (Bromsgrove School, Camp Hill and North Midlands), Ross Chisholm (Brighton College, Harlequins and Sussex)
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